Updated 9-17-07

Most people are aware of the fact I was injured on the job on Friday 9-7-07. For those who are not, I stepped in a open hole left by a missing conveyor roller and fell onto the conveyor. I strained and bruised my shoulder, strained my wrist and bruised, contused and strained my knee. I saw the company doctor at Med Works and was placed on light duty. After a week of shuffling papers I was glad the doctor relaxed the restrictions on my light duty to the point I was sure I could do my job with a little help. I took the paperwork in to Denny Moran and discussed my restrictions with him. I volunteered to come back and help out to keep from burdening my co-workers with unnecessary overtime. Denny agreed we could work within these restrictions and even called for my temp worker himself. I left the office thinking everything was cool. I guess that's what I get for thinking. I came in Monday morning 9-17-07 and cleaned up an old plastic chair and placed it at my job station. It was my plan to stay in compliance with my doctor's restrictions of not being on my feet more than 5 hours a day by resting in this chair when there was a lull in production and being handy to keep the line moving when the job required it. Sounds like a plan don't it? I mean after all I have a leg brace on and I was injured on this job not more than 10 days ago. You would think that there would be a little appreciation on the part of management for my extra effort and if not appreciation maybe a little understanding wouldn't you? Wrong again. At about 7 or 8am this morning my supervisor came to me and informed me Denny Moran wanted him to take my chair. At first, I thought he has to be kidding....wrong again! Denny had my chair confiscated.

How totally and completely void of any common human respect. It is for this reason that I feel this to be a worthy addition to the IP Hall Of Shame. Congratulations!

As far as the chair goes... I don't need it that bad.

There are 2 things to be learned from this. If you are injured on this job, go to your family doctor and insist on doing your recovery at home and we need proper Union representation.

In closing this post, I feel the need to inform everyone that I wrote up the very hazard that I was hurt by in May and June of this year and have followed up many times since then. Knowing the cover thy backside and deny everything policy at this plant I had a witness watch me hand deliver these safety requests to several members of management. And just in case they got lost, I have duplicate copies. It is my opinion that the safety program at this facility is a scarecrow thrown up to fool OSHA into allowing this facility to fly it's VPP STAR flag. The safety program has no teeth and no power. To expect it to protect you is like expecting a paper towel to stop a hurricane. The only true purpose I have seen for it in all 21+ years of employment at this facility is when it is used by management as a whip to punish the employees. It is a sad reality of our day to day existence in this plant that I'm sure management will deny but the people know and that is all I care about. M. Bryant

Updated 5-27-07

Median income down 12% since 1974

MEANWHILE, A CEO GETS 262 TIMES AS MUCH AS WORKER

Associated Press

WASHINGTON -- The part of the American dream that says a man's children will be better off than he was has become just that -- only a dream, according to an analysis of census data released yesterday.

A generation ago, American men in their 30s had median annual incomes of about $40,000 compared with men of the same age who now make about $35,000 a year, adjusted for inflation.

That's a 12.5 percent drop between 1974 and 2004, according to data from the Pew Charitable Trusts' Economic Mobility Project.

To be sure, household incomes rose during the same period, although the main reason is that there are more full-time working women, a new report on the project said.

Although income is not the only measure of economic mobility, the findings challenge the historical presumption that each successive generation will be wealthier, said John E. Morton, the report's co-author.

"Today's data suggest that during a 30-year period of economic expansion, a rising tide did not lift all boats," Morton said in a release accompanying the report, "Economic Mobility: Is the American Dream Alive and Well?"

Of course, the men who run American companies don't have too much to complain about. CEO pay increased to 262 times the average worker's pay in 2005 from 35 times in 1978, according to the report's analysis of Congressional Budget Office statistics.

The Pew report also found that in numerous countries, including Denmark, Norway, Finland, Canada, Sweden, Germany and France, there is more economic mobility than in the United States, when measuring by the income differences between generations.

Over the next 18 months, the Pew project, which started in February, will continue to unveil analyses of data about the status of U.S. economic mobility.

Planned releases include a fact book containing mobility comparisons by race, gender, immigration and other measures, and an analysis of the effect of shifting federal investments in education and other domestic policies.

Be sure to check out both of these stories. It is extremely interesting that IP can cry about being paupers when it comes to giving it's hourly workers a decent pay raise but, as a corporation, they can lavish extravagant raises and bonuses on the CEO and his people. Who voted for these raises? Did the shareholders really approve these honey sweet raises while the rest of us starve? Are these the same people that asked for your trust in not voting for a Union? I wouldn't want a Union either if I could get sweet raises like that!! As a matter of fact, I would tell you anything it took to keep you from voting for a Union because with a Union, you might make it fair and, as a big bonus making boss man, I just could not stand for that!! If I gave my people fair raises, I might not be able to afford that fourth vacation home!

News Brief

Executive pay raises over quarter century dwarf average workers'

Oct 11, 2004 - The gap between CEO and worker pay continues to grow dramatically, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and an annual survey by Business Week magazine. If average worker pay, now at $26,899, had risen at the same rate as CEO pay over the last 25 years, workers would now be earning more than $184,000 a year. If the minimum wage rose at the same rate, it would now be almost $45 an hour.

Some CEOs and analysts say high salaries are necessary to attract "top talent."

"There are very, very few people who can lead one of the major international companies, and you have to pay what the market demands," Charles Peck, a compensation specialist for the Conference Board, a global business research organization based in New York and Belgium, told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Others argue the disparity is unethical, especially at a time when many workers are facing pay cuts, declining benefits and lay-offs. William J. McDonough, chairman of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, a private, nonprofit organization that oversees the auditors of public companies, believes Congress may soon take action to set limits on executive pay. In a February speech, McDonough called the wage gap “grotesquely immoral.”
--Madeleine Baran

International Paper CEO gets 14% pay raise

By Heather Wilson, MarketWatch
Last Update: 1:27 PM ET April 7, 2005

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) - International Paper Co. said Thursday it increased the salaries of top executives.

Chairman and Chief Executive John Faraci will see his base salary climb 14% to just over $1.1 million, according to documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Last year, Faraci received a base salary of $984,333, but got an additional $3.9 million in bonuses and annual compensation.

President Robert Amen is getting a 12% pay boost. In 2005, Amen will be paid $809,750, up from the $725,500 he got a year ago. Last year, he received a bonus of $782,000.

However, Chief Financial Officer Christopher Liddell will see a 4% rise to his new base pay of $530,950.

Shares of International Paper traded 61 cents higher to $37.69 in the midday session.

Median income down 12% since 1974

MEANWHILE, A CEO GETS 262 TIMES AS MUCH AS WORKER

Executive pay raises over quarter century dwarf average workers'

Send mail to us with questions or comments about this web site.

Copyright © 2002 International Paper Lexington Plant Union Homepage.
Last modified: September 08, 2011.

Median income down 12% since 1974

MEANWHILE, A CEO GETS 262 TIMES AS MUCH AS WORKER

Executive pay raises over quarter century dwarf average workers'

Send mail to us with questions or comments about this web site.

Copyright © 2002 International Paper Lexington Plant Union Homepage. Last modified: September 08, 2011.

Copyright © 2002 International Paper Lexington Plant Union Homepage.
Last modified: September 08, 2011.