From: Gregory Trappett |
Dear Securities and Exchange Commission, I am writing to urge the Securities and Exchange Commission to act on its proposed rule making on executive compensation disclosure. Too often executives are richly rewarded even when their companies' performance is below par. Without better disclosure, shareholders, employees and the general public cannot evaluate whether executive pay packages are unjustly enriching executives at shareholder cost or providing fair compensation. I personally believe that the compensation packages are motivated not by performance and leadership but by 'the good old boy network' and 'who is related to whom'. This has cost the shareholders, and workers, of America enormously in profits and company value. I work for a company thats value is not by management leadership, as Wall Street has stated that its management is the worst in corporate America, but by ill informed misperceptions of labors role and value in the company. But the compensation packages for upper management get enormously larger and larger but is not deserved. The newly proposed rules will make this crucial information more accessible to shareholders and the public. The new requirements to disclose total compensation figures, pensions and detailed compensation breakdowns will make it clear exactly how much top executives are earning and why. I believe that CEO pay should be set by Shareholder Committees, with full information, not by friends and cronies of that CEO. Under the proposed rule, a director could secretly do $120,000 in business with a company, an amount that is more than four times the average worker's annual pay of $27,460. Shareholders should be told if directors have potential conflicts of interest, no matter what the amount. I also urge the SEC to require that companies disclose pay-for-performance data. In order for investors to understand how pay and performance match up, companies need to explain more clearly what level of performance is necessary for a particular level of pay. I urge the SEC to require companies to disclose both the performance criteria and the performance targets they use when setting executive pay. Sincerely, Gregory Trappett |