Deere CEO pay plows new ground

By Bill Gabbard | Wednesday, May 07, 2008

As I was gathering my information for my income tax preparation I paused and wondered how it would feel to have a $52.4 million dollar year for 2007 to report. This figure was reported in the Jan. 16, 2008 Wall Street Journal as the total compensation for the CEO of the company that I had retired from: John Deere. When asked about this at the annual shareholder’s meeting on Feb. 27. Mr. Lane replied that the Wall Street Journal was inaccurate and referred shareholders to information on Deere’s compensation committee contained in the company’s proxy statement. I believe the Wall Street Journal.

I don’t begrudge a CEO receiving reasonable compensation but when it equates to 800 to 1,000 times more than an employee on the shop floor or to an office worker then something is wrong. What does one do with a million dollars a week or $25,000 dollars an hour?

A small portion of the $52.4 million ($10,154) was listed as an annual medical physical. This was happening as the company was planning to remove 5,000 retirees from the company’s group health insurance plan effective Jan. 1, 2008. There is a good possibility that there will be retirees who will have out of pocket prescription expenditures close to the $10,154 in 2008. There is stress and concern among these people as to how they will pay these expenditures from their pension benefits.

Deere is definitely “plowing” new ground in this approach to retirees and active employees that has not happened before in the great history of John Deere.

Bill Gabbard

Silvis