USW’s Johnson Talks about Wealth Distribution and CEO Compensation Disclosure

Progressive talk show host Leslie Marshall and United Steelworkers (USW) International Secretary-Treasurer Stan Johnson discuss wealth distribution and the proposed U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) regulation that would require public companies to disclose the ratio of the compensation of its chief executive officer (CEO) to the median compensation of its employees. 

The compensation ratio has expanded from 20: 1 CEO in the past four decades to around 204:-1 today, and in many cases, 350:1.

As working families battle to maintain and protect Social Security and Medicare benefits that they help fund,  Republican law makers are attempting to diminish those programs with the blessings of corporate executives whose compensation has multiplied so shamefully over recent years.

“Imagine something as simple as public disclosure being something that the companies are fighting so intently,” said Johnson. “What in the world could be wrong with a simple disclosure of CEO pay versus the median income for a worker? Why would that not be a part of part of the process already?”

To hear more of the conversation, click the audio below.

Background Materials:

1. CEO-to-worker pay gap is obscene; want to know how obscene?
2. A letter from the Peter Drucker Institute that talks about the great disparities in compensation
3. Poisonous Million Dollar Pay Packages
4. The Road to Recovery: How and Why Economic Policy Must Change
5. Wealth Inequality in America