Re: Fired Pan Am CEO to get $534,800 handshake, Feb. 1
Fired Pan Am CEO to get $534,800 handshake, Feb. 1
The irony of seeing Thomas Walkom’s article “Taking a stand against low wages” juxtaposed against this one was not lost on this reader.
On the one hand, amidst cries of economic Armageddon, the premier has begrudgingly ordered the minimum hourly wage be raised by a princely 75 cents. Hopefully those appreciative of her government’s largesse will return the favour by voting Liberal.
On the other hand, the Wynne government has also awarded fired Pan Am CEO Ian Troop more than half a million dollars for not doing his job and for fudging his expenses. “It is not out of line at all,” said Courtney Pratt, chair of TO2015’s human resources committee. Former Liberal premier and TO2015 Chair David Peterson explained: “These things are never pleasant, but at the end of the day, you resolve them.” I feel so much better now.
Apparently in Liberal-run Ontario, clauses in contracts requiring the payment of huge severance sums to fired employees is just another cost of doing business easily passed on to taxpayers.
The true magnitude of these two stories, when compared side by side, is apparent when you consider that a minimum wage earner would have to work 40 hours a week for over 23 years to earn what Ian Troop is getting for doing nothing. The generosity of the Wynne Liberal government apparently knows no bounds.
Paul MacDonald, Warkworth
This shameful abuse of public monies must stop. How shameful that the fired Pan Am CEO will receive such a fortune from the public purse for not doing his job. What a perfect example of greed and entitlement. There ought to be a law.
Also, I do not want Toronto to waste my money on an Olympic Games bid. Let the private sector provide all the funds. After all they benefit the most.
John Sakal, Toronto
I did the math: The CEO’s severance package of $534,000 would cover the weekly increase for 17,826 minimum wage earners. Or put another way, as a salary, this package would break down to almost $11,000 a week instead of the $440 a week a minimum wage earner would earn full time at the new rate.
According to the article, this is a fairly standard severance package. What would a fired minimum wage worker get?
G.W. Byron, Toronto