Toronto newspaper takes aim at Nortel for bonuses to ‘fat cats’
Nortel
Related Blog Posts
On The Web
Site Search
Get the latest news alerts: Follow LTW at Twitter.
Local Tech Wire
RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C. – Thanksgiving weekend news about bankrupt Nortel executives raking in more than $7 million in bonuses left the editorial writers at the Toronto Sun with a case of heartburn.
“There may be good reasons why Nortel Networks Corp. is handing out salary hikes and bonuses (yet again) this year, but it will be hard pressed to justify it to former employees fighting for severance packages or pensions,” wrote Paul Berton in an editorial titled “Fat cats, hungry workers.”
As Local Tech Wire reported Friday, the CBC in Canada uncovered documents that disclosed the bonuses being awarded to 72 executives. Fourteen of those already make more than $500,000 a year.
The Star railed against Nortel for awarding another round of bonuses on top of $42 million given out earlier this year even as laid-off workers are denied severance and Canadian retirees face threats to pensions.
“It's part of a pattern across the business landscape that is increasingly baffling -- not to mention infuriating -- to the lowly worker,” the editorial said.
“For reasons only accountants and executives themselves seem to understand, outrageous incomes seem to have become the price of doing business (or bankruptcy) in recent decades. Former Nortel head John Roth, for example, hauled in $133 million in 2000 alone.”
Featured
Hot Off The Wire
- Red Hat's new Fedora lead; Cree LED breakthrough; Google, Cisco top 'green' list; Oracle rejects SAP settlement; Yahoo board shakeup
- Will Cisco report progress in its turnaround efforts?
- Cisco server fire threat; Lenovo Android upgrade; cloud startup vs. Cisco; Epic's Blesinski to host awards; Google 'Solve for X'
E-mail Preferences
The Skinny
- Groundwork Labs refocuses mission as Triangle Startup Factory nears launch
- Epic Games' Tim Sweeney reaps arts Hall of Fame honor today
- Charlotte's startup efforts pick up steam as more data pours in
- 'Battle in Bay 7' returns - Are you techies ready for some basketball?
- Inside RTP's new angel fund: Founders meeting 'significant' need
- Who won 'Social Bowl'? Super Bowl ads paying fans to play
- RTP broadband firm Overture, minus two top execs, launches new look
- Will RTP-based ChannelAdvisor go public? They're thinking
- What brands are winning Super Bowl hype? Two Durham firms to find out
- In Super Bowl of social media, Patriots win, Triangle firm says