Canwest asks unions for pay cuts; what about Asper and Skulsky?

There were  various news reports today (June 12)  about Canwest Global Communication Corp.'s desire to cut its labour costs. The media giant owns the Global TV network, the Vancouver Sun, Province, National Post, Vancouver Courier, North Shore News, and many other daily and weekly papers.

The Toronto Star reported that  Canwest is seeking wage cuts up to five percent from its unions to help it avoid a bankruptcy filing.

I sent an e-mail  to Arnold Amber,  president  the CWA/SCA Canada union, asking if he will seek similar wage cuts from Leonard Asper, president and CEO of Canwest, and Dennis Skulsky, president and CEO of Canwest Publishing. I haven't heard a response yet.

Asper and Skulky qualify for bigger bonuses if they exceed their performance objectives. So in a curious twist, if they persuade the unions to take pay  cuts, the top bosses' million-dollar compensation packages could grow even larger.

In 2008, Asper collected a $900,000 salary and a bonus of $153,780. He  was also granted options to buy 127,400 subordinate voting shares and 33,200 restricted share units at $7.50. The options expire in November 2017.

Skulsky collected a $650,000 salary and a bonus of $498,938 in 2008. He was also granted options to buy 73,700  subordinate voting shares  and 19,200 restricted share units under the same terms as Asper.

The options are worthless  as of June 12, when Canwest shares closed at 20 cents.  

Effective last September 1, Skulsky  was  paid  a $750,000 base salary and incentive compensation up to 112.5 percent of base salary based on agreed-upon financial and personal objectives.

If Skulsky is terminated without cause, he will receive two years base  salary and the average annual bonus collected over the previous three-year period.

Asper and Skulsky each  earned more than any public-sector worker in B.C.

Canwest's most recent information circular states there are four components to the company's executive-compensation plan: base salary, annual short-term performance-based cash incentives, long-term incentives, and perquisites.

The desired mix, according to the company,  is 40 percent base salary, 25 percent short-term cash incentives, and 35 percent long-term incentives.

"Overachievement at 125% of financial performance target will be rewarded with a bonus payment of up to  150%  of target," Canwest's most recent  management information circular states. "Near target performance at a minimum of  90 percent financial performance targets will be rewarded with partial bonus payments of 10%."

Comments

3 Comments

Curt

Jun 15, 2009 at 2:58pm

Who should be taking the pay cut?
Canwest MediaWorks president and CEO Dennis Skulsky received a salary of $650,000 in the past year along with a bonus of $498,938. Canwest MediaWorks owns the Vancouver Sun.

Leonard Asper, CEO of the parent firm Canwest Global Communications Corp., was paid $900,000 and collected a bonus of $153,780 in the past year.

I think it should come out of the above two pockets. Leave the little guy alone. It wasn' them that made the mess of the ecomony.

It's these very kinds of CEO's, banks, insurance companies, etc. that got us into this mess. They're all overly greedy. When is enough enough? Time to claw back some of the executive wages starting at the top and moving through top to bottom management.

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Blackie

Jun 16, 2009 at 8:46am

It sounds noble to demand that Asper/Skulsky et al have their salaries chopped -- but if these folks agreed to work for a dollar a year it wouldn't make any dent at all on Can-West's bottom line. They still be filing for bankruptcy.

This company needs a drastic haircut if it's going to stay in business. That means significant wage cuts from unionized employees (or, if they balk, significant layoffs), and it means further chops in operations. Getting rid of one of the Vancouver papers is a no-brainer, and it surprises me it has taken so long for them to announce this move.

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capt. crunch

Jul 2, 2009 at 11:07pm

Are you nuts? The creme de la creme, the top fat cats in the Ivory Tower being as one with the lower masses by taking a paycut? How could they survive the inhumanity of it all?

But sarcasm aside, the reality is that they will not take any paycut and if they do it's for apperances only because they are probably getting the $$$$$$ from some other source or scheme. Those guys NEVER lose money, they just make it appear to be that way to appease the peons.

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