Megan Gets In The UAW’s Shorts
In the endless pursuit of single-source blame, Ms. McCardle takes the UAW to task:
I think it’s entirely fair to fire Rick Wagoner, but firing Rick Wagoner is a symbolic gesture; it is not going to make GM either more or less profitable unless you know where we can get some fantastic auto management talent that wants to lash itself to the mast of a sinking ship. And all the other stakeholders have agreed to take massive hits. The shareholders are taking cramdowns, the bondholders are taking a 2/3 haircut, and so forth.
And yet somehow limits for executive compensation become an unjustified matter of meddling in the free-market. Not everyone has agreed to a haircut yet, and I don’t see the executives lining up for a cap on salaries and bonuses. Please spare me the $1 a year public relations stunt also.
Yes, firing Rick Wagoner is a symbolic gesture and a needed one. Why should football coaches be held to a higher standard of accountability than CEO’s? You go 4-12 in the NFL and you are almost certainly toast, yet executives from industry to industry are rewarded regardless of performance and given handsome packages to take their leave.
So gives me some symbols to go with the concrete on this one.
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