Telstra's multi-millionaire chairman has hit back at the "hysterical" public outrage over executive pay, defending corporate Australia against the growing "bosses are bastards" mentality.
Donald McGauchie - who approved a multi-million dollar golden handshake for Telstra's soon-to-depart chief executive Sol Trujillo - said the outcry of "us versus them" in response to job cuts is helping no one, as companies do all that they can to protect their employees and shareholders.
McGauchie, who was paid $602,500 last year for his role as chairman, owns nearly $500,000 worth of Telstra shares. Last year he attended nine board meetings - earning $66,000 per meeting.
Including his fees for board roles at James Hardie Industries and Nufarm, he earned a total of nearly $900,000 last year as a non-executive director.
Comment: Executive pay? What a bloody mess
His comments came as public pressure mounts on the board of Pacific Brands, which announced plans to cut 1,850 jobs and move its clothing manufacturing operations to China.
Earlier today, rumours of sweeping job cuts at National Australia Bank were met with a sharp warning from the financial sector union that it would attack the executives' pay packages should the cuts go ahead.
Speaking at a business lunch in Melbourne, McGauchie defended corporate Australia as it battles to survive the global economic crisis.
"Populist calls for companies to take a hit on profits to save jobs - while sounding to the tabloid press as being loaded with compassion - is in fact the opposite," McGauchie said.
"If it were that simple not a single worker would be out of a job. Employers don't want to sack employees, especially in these difficult times."
Telstra itself has cut over 10,000 jobs since it began an internal streamlining program under Trujillo in 2005.
An increasingly prevalent "us versus them" mentality, manifesting itself in a call of "bosses are bastards", is dangerous in the current climate, McGauchie said.
"What we need now is calm and steady leadership at every level of society," he added.
"We just can't afford shooting from the hip hysterical responses. When decisions are made, people should move on and get on with it."
Every business leader is focused on making the right decisions, McGauchie said, but in the current economic environment there are lot of external forces which cannot be controlled.
"Commentators, outside the boardrooms confronting these very real and critical issues, are often unaware of the complexity of the issues that are being managed," McGauchie said.
money.ninemsn.com.au 6 Mar 2009
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