Executive PayWatch upgraded

5 April 2001 - The AFL-CIO's Executive PayWatch website ( http://www.paywatch.org ) is being upgraded to include almost 50 new 'e-tools' for shareholders to campaign against excessive boardroom pay.

PayWatch makes the point that (despite recent major falls in stock prices) the average CEO collected a record $20 million in 2000 - including almost 50% more in stock options plus 22% more in salary and bonuses than the previous year. Contrast that with the 3% raise for a typical hourly worker last year. In 1999, CEOs were paid 476 times the earnings of the average blue-collar American worker compared with 85 times more in 1990 and 42 times in 1980.

PayWatch also lets visitors compare their pay to that received by their own CEO. It tells you how many years it would take you to earn what your CEO receives. For example, according to PayWatch, a telephone line repair person would need to work 1891 years to equal Sprint (NYSE: FON) Chairman and CEO William Esrey's year 2000 rewards - equivalent to repairing 6.9 million working phones. He received $69.3 million in total compensation and stock options in 2000, together with $64.1 million in stock option exercises from prior grants. And Bank of America's Hugh McColl grabbed a total of $95.6 million over the last five years - when Bank of America's stock return underperformed the S&P Index by -34%!

Opinion research by Peter Hart Research Associates in 2001 indicates that 78% of the US public feel that it is important for everyone - and not just CEOs - to have a fair share in a growing economy. Respondents rated this as one of the top three economy-related goals which were seen as important for the future.

You can also find out if your mutual fund has invested in companies which are among those that waste most money on excessive CEO pay. The site provides summaries of CEO rewards in some 1600 companies. You can email individual company board members to demand CEO pay reform, use the internet to blast executives with ill-gotten stock options, or e-mail "dead beat directors" who received subsidized loans.

"People are sickened by watching this bear market eat up their life savings while CEOs still make out with the big bucks," said AFL-CIO Secretary- Treasurer Richard Trumka. "That's why we're giving working people the e-tools they need to take action and organize against outrageous CEO pay packages which lower the value of everyone's stock."