635 - IATSE Local 8 Philadelphia

Canada’s Corporations & CEO’s:
All Paid up by February 1st
TThe 100 highest paid CEO’s of corporations
listed on the Toronto Stock
Exchange celebrated the New Year
early this year. By noon on January
3rd, the first working day of the year,
they had already pocketed $44,366 –
what it takes the average wage earner
an entire year to make.
The Canadian Centre for Policy
Alternatives’ (CCPA) annual look at
CEO compensation reveals Canada’s
Elite 100 CEO’s pocketed an average
$8.38 million in 2010 – a 27% increase
over the average $6.6 million they
took home in 2009. By comparison,
after taking inflation into account, the
average worker’s weekly earnings are
lower now than they were during the
worst of the 2008-09 recession.
The report relates the anecdote
of George Romney (2012 U.S. presidential
candidate Mitt Romney’s father),
who, in the 1960’s, famously
refused a bonus from American Motors
because it would have elevated
his pay to more than 10 times that
of a production worker. This stands
in stark contrast to Canada’s CEO
Elite 100, who now make 189 times
more than Canadians earning the
average wage. The report’s author,
economist Hugh Mackenzie says, “If
you think that’s normal, it’s not. In
1998, the highest paid 100 Canadian
CEOs earned 105 times more than
the average wage, itself likely more
than double the figure for a decade
earlier.”
Further, a new research study from
the Canadian Labour Congress shows
that companies in Canada celebrated
Corporate Tax Freedom Day on February
1st. Due to large corporate tax
giveaways, by that day, corporations
had paid their taxes to all levels of government
for the entire year.
According to the Department of
Finance, $1 billion invested in infrastructure
investment creates more than
five times as many jobs as the same
amount spent on corporate tax cuts.
Don’t let the government kid you that
corporate tax cuts mean job creation.
Over and over again, we are shown
that corporations don’t care about job
creation; their interests stop at the bottom
line.
President’s Newsletter
Continued from page 4
pictures and television shows, as well as the creators
of music and other original creative work, from the
unlawful theft of that work. In other words, protect the
livelihoods and futures of our members.
There is a misunderstanding by many that creative
work benefits only those who distribute it, not those
who create it. We create it every day and can see how
content theft deprives not only IATSE members, but
the entire motion picture and television industry of billions
of dollars every year.
This debate hasn’t gone away. It will come back. The
legislation may need some fine tuning in both the House
and Senate, but the intent will be the same -- to give our
members the protection they deserve and not cave in to
scare tactics and the shrill bleatings of those who make
billions off of the backs of working families.
In Canada, labor is being hit hard by anti-worker
legislation as well. With a Conservative majority government,
it looks as though there is nothing to stop the
implementation of Bill C-377, which is a thinly-veiled
attempt to union-bust while promoting itself as being
pro-worker. The bill would make financial reporting requirements
so onerous that smaller Locals, with limited
staff and resources, could have difficulty complying.
As we head forward, we need to muster all the efforts
we can in order to continue to support those who have
supported us, and avoid the pitfalls that will continue to
be laid down in front of our every step. One way we can
do that and make our voice heard is to become active
and support the IATSE-PAC. Join the IATSE-PAC today
and make a contribution to your future (U.S. members
only). We need to be ALL IN now, like never before!
8 Official Bulletin First Quarter 2012 9