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Uproar should be about more than Equal Pay for Women
We’ve got a long way to go, baby
by
S am P izzigati
W h e n G e n e ra l
M o to rs
nam ed
M a ry B a r ra th e
c o m p a n y ’s n e w
ch ief executive o f
ficer in D ecem ber,
the an n o u n ce m e n t m ade in stan t
h ead lin es. N o w o m an had e v er
steered a m ajor global a u to m a k e r.
But the hurrahs fo r GM ’ s historic
hire turned into hoots o f derision
w hen a com pany filing revealed its
new ch ief e x ecu tiv e’s pay.
The veteran auto industry ex-
ecutive is m aking $4.4 m illion this
year. T hat tidy sum am ounts to about
h alf the total pay B arra’s C E O pre-
d ecesso r took hom e. G eneral M o-
tors, critics charge, is underpaying
its first w om an c h ie f exec.
.
T hese charges quickly shoved
GM into dam age-control m o d e.T h e
c o m p an y ’s first response: a state-
m ent designed to “dispel any no-
tion o f pay in eq u ity .”
T he $4 .4 m illion 2014 pay figure
for M ary B arra, the au to m ak er pro-
“ S p e c ific lo n g -te rm in c e n tiv e
com pensation num bers,” w ould
have to w ait until A pril, the co m
pany explained.
T his vague initial response did
little to calm the w aters. In quick
o rd e r, G M re le n te d , re le asin g
ch ap ter and verse on B arra’s co m
plete 2014 pay package.
T he a u to m a k er’s new C E O , it
turns out, stands to take hom e $ 14.4
m illion this y ear once long-term in-
c e n tiv es g et facto red in. T h a t’s
roughly 6 0 percent m ore than her
p re d e ce sso r,
B arra’s total 2014 com pensation,
G M board ch air T im Solso assured
the c o m p an y ’s critics, w ould be “in
line” w ith h er auto industry peers,
“T he c o m p an y ’s perform ance will
ultim ately determ ine how m uch she
is paid,” Solso explained.
So C E O Barra will receive an extra
$10 m illion ifG M “p erform s” ? But
w hat about the m en and w om en
w ho m ake G M ’s autos and trucks?
H ow m uch w ill those w orkers re-
ceive for G M ’s 2014 “perform ance” ?
nounced, d id n ’t include h er long-
term incentives.
H ow m uch w ould these rew ards
to tal? G M w o u ld n ’t say exactly.
W e w o n ’t know that until G M
releases annual profit-sharing num -
bers next w inter. W e do know that
G M ’s 4 8 ,5 0 0 hourly w orkers will
receive, fo r the c o m p an y ’s 2013
perform ance, up to $7,500 each in
profit-sharing checks.
T hese checks, the D etroit N ew s
observes, am ount to little m ore than
“a pseudo-annual raise.” G M ’s vet
eran hourly w orkers “h a v en ’t go t
ten a real raise fo r the past d ecad e.”
A nd new ly hired w orkers? U nder
G M ’ s tw o-tiered w age system , these
new com ers start out “at h a lf the
hourly rate o f veteran em p lo y ees.”
In 2 0 1 4 , c h im e s in C B S
M oney W atch, G M C E O M ary Barra
w ill rake in 329 tim es w hat the av er
age auto industry w orker takes home.
W om en com prise about 21 percent
o f auto w orkers. The first-year w ork
ers at G M am ong them w ill take
hom e less in a y ear than M ary B arra
m akes in a day.
T his pay gap betw een B arra and
G M ’s ra n k -an d -filed o esn ’t seem to
em barrass T im Solso and his G M
board m ates, not anyw here nearly
as m uch as the m uch tinier gap crit
ics initially saw betw een the pay o f
B arra and h er m ale predecessor.
W e should all be pleased, o f
course, that G M ’s directors felt such
an in te n se need to c o rre c t that
“ m isp ercep tio n ” they w ere u n d er
paying their first fem ale C EO .
T he pressure — and em barrass
m ent — that G M ’s top brass felt
helps show that years o f struggle
against sexist pay inequities at the
top o f the corporate ladder are b ear
ing fruit.
N o m ajor A m erican corporation,
this episode reveals quite clearly,
can afford these days to get p u b
licly branded as an em p lo y er that
d iscrim inates against w om en. O ur
society has indeed com e a long way.
But the flap over B arra’s pay also
show s how far w e have yet to go.
M o st w o m en w ill n e v e r sit in a
c o rp o ra te e x e c u tiv e su ite. N e ith e r
w ill m o st m en. T h e y ’ll w o rk re g u
la r jo b s , d o in g w o rk th a t g e n e r
a tes im m e n se a m o u n ts o f w ealth .
T h e re w a rd s fo r c re a tin g all this
w ealth ? M u ch m o re than the lio n ’s
sh are w ill g o to A m e ric a ’s o v e r
w h elm in g ly m ale co rp o rate e x ec u
tiv e class.
M aybe som eday the enorm ity o f
the pay gap betw een w orkers and
executives will em barrass corporate
leaders as m uch as the hubbub over
M ary B arra’s com pensation em bar
rassed G eneral M otors.
W e can hope for that day. B etter
yet, w e can fight for it.
OtherWords columnist Sam
Pizzigati is an Institute for Policy
Studies associate fellow.