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The AFL-CIO has just released the 2005 version of the Executive PayWatch website and database—and you’ve got to see what these guys are getting paid!

Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott presides over a company that just settled legal cases involving child labor violations (for $135,540) and hiring undocumented immigrants as janitors (for $11 million). Scott’s company still faces a massive sex discrimination class action suit and numerous legal actions accusing the company of forcing hundreds of thousands of Wal-Mart employees to work “off the clock.”

Wal-Mart’s in the hot seat for closing down a Canadian store rather than bargain with workers who voted to form a union. A former executive is accused of cheating on expense reimbursements to fund secret union-busting projects, according to The Wall Street Journal. Wal-Mart pays employees too little to keep a family of four out of poverty—and because of low wages, high costs and corporate manipulation, fewer than half of Wal-Mart workers have company health care coverage. But did Lee Scott get in trouble? No—he got a 2004 pay package worth almost $23 million!

An average Joe or Jane like us would work 901 years to match Lee Scott’s take for 2004 alone.

Scott is just one example of runaway CEO pay—and he’s not even at the top of the list of overpaid corporate execs. That spot is taken by Yahoo CEO Terry Semel, who raked in an unbelievable $109,301,385 (that’s million) in total compensation last year. In 2004, the average CEO of a major company received $9.84 million in total compensation—a 12 percent increase over 2003, compared with the inflation-ravaged 3.6 percent raise the average worker got.

Every dollar these CEOs are overpaid is a dollar that could be going to shareholders—including working folks saving for their retirement or to put a child through college. That’s why union pension funds are taking on runaway CEO pay right in the boardroom with shareholder proposals to limit stock options and tie CEO compensation to performance.

Take a minute to visit AFL-CIO Executive PayWatch. See what CEOs are taking home, how your pay compares—and what you can do to stop runaway CEO pay. Click here:

www.paywatch.org

Thanks for all you do for working families.

In solidarity,

Working Families e-Activist Network, AFL-CIO
April 13, 2005