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"Top execs at Delta given stock shares: Rank and file, however, got buyout offers"
Wow--you guys must be doing even better than they are telling you to afford this:
"Top execs at Delta given stock shares
Rank and file, however, got buyout offers
By Kelly Yamanouchi
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Delta Air Lines last month gave hundreds of thousands of shares of its stock to executives as part of a long-term incentive plan, while it was also offering buyouts to employees to shrink its work force and adjust to weaker demand for travel.
Delta distributed 398,560 shares to Delta Chief Executive Richard Anderson; 181,160 shares to President Edward Bastian; and tens of thousands of shares each to executives Mike Campbell, Mike Becker, Steve Gorman, Hank Halter, Glen Hauenstein and Richard Hirst.
The shares are restricted, and the executives can sell or transfer half of them Feb. 1, 2010, or later and the other half Feb. 1, 2011, or later, if those executives are still employed by Delta.
Because of those restrictions it’s unclear how much the stock grants will be worth. But based on Delta’s closing stock price Tuesday, the shares distributed to Anderson in January would be worth about $2.3 million and Bastian’s would be worth close to $1 million. Delta’s shares closed at $5.71 Wednesday, down 10 percent, and have fallen about 66 percent in the last year.
Meanwhile, Delta did not pay out any profit sharing to employees or annual cash bonuses under its management incentive plan because it reported an $8.9 billion loss last year. Most of the loss was from restructuring and other charges.
But the airline did give pay raises across the company effective Jan. 1. “Delta continues to invest in all employees across all levels through merger equity grants, pay raises, performance incentives, retirement plan contributions” and the pay increases, said Delta spokesman Kent Landers.
The stock distributions are annual grants under Delta’s 2009 long-term incentive plan, which the company expects to detail in its proxy to be filed in 2010.
The stock grants are essentially retention incentives, part of the board’s philosophy to “place a substantial portion of leaders’ pay at risk over time,” which is tied to the long-term performance of the company, Landers said. They pay out based on how long executives work for the company, and because they are issued in stock their value depends on Delta’s stock price. But the amount of stock awarded is not based on past performance.
During bankruptcy, Delta cut employee pay and did not offer a long-term incentive program to executives. But the company developed a new compensation system when it emerged from bankruptcy. Executives and all other employees received stock when Delta exited bankruptcy in 2007 and when the company completed its merger with Northwest Airlines last year.
Joseph Tiberi, a spokesman for the International Association of Machinists, which represents baggage handlers, customer service agents, reservations agents and others from Northwest, said “the tolerance for such compensation in today’s environment is wearing thin.”
“Congress is mandating that executives who take advantage of federal bailout money have to limit their compensation, and Delta executives who have taken money from employees in bankruptcy should be doing the same,” Tiberi said.
Delta’s incentives also include a program called “Shared Rewards” for employees below the director level. Those incentives at Delta pay up to $100 per month based on baggage handling performance, flight cancellation and delay rates. "
Find this article at:
http://www.ajc.com/services/content/printedition/2009/02/19/deltapay0219.html
Wow--you guys must be doing even better than they are telling you to afford this:
"Top execs at Delta given stock shares
Rank and file, however, got buyout offers
By Kelly Yamanouchi
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Delta Air Lines last month gave hundreds of thousands of shares of its stock to executives as part of a long-term incentive plan, while it was also offering buyouts to employees to shrink its work force and adjust to weaker demand for travel.
Delta distributed 398,560 shares to Delta Chief Executive Richard Anderson; 181,160 shares to President Edward Bastian; and tens of thousands of shares each to executives Mike Campbell, Mike Becker, Steve Gorman, Hank Halter, Glen Hauenstein and Richard Hirst.
The shares are restricted, and the executives can sell or transfer half of them Feb. 1, 2010, or later and the other half Feb. 1, 2011, or later, if those executives are still employed by Delta.
Because of those restrictions it’s unclear how much the stock grants will be worth. But based on Delta’s closing stock price Tuesday, the shares distributed to Anderson in January would be worth about $2.3 million and Bastian’s would be worth close to $1 million. Delta’s shares closed at $5.71 Wednesday, down 10 percent, and have fallen about 66 percent in the last year.
Meanwhile, Delta did not pay out any profit sharing to employees or annual cash bonuses under its management incentive plan because it reported an $8.9 billion loss last year. Most of the loss was from restructuring and other charges.
But the airline did give pay raises across the company effective Jan. 1. “Delta continues to invest in all employees across all levels through merger equity grants, pay raises, performance incentives, retirement plan contributions” and the pay increases, said Delta spokesman Kent Landers.
The stock distributions are annual grants under Delta’s 2009 long-term incentive plan, which the company expects to detail in its proxy to be filed in 2010.
The stock grants are essentially retention incentives, part of the board’s philosophy to “place a substantial portion of leaders’ pay at risk over time,” which is tied to the long-term performance of the company, Landers said. They pay out based on how long executives work for the company, and because they are issued in stock their value depends on Delta’s stock price. But the amount of stock awarded is not based on past performance.
During bankruptcy, Delta cut employee pay and did not offer a long-term incentive program to executives. But the company developed a new compensation system when it emerged from bankruptcy. Executives and all other employees received stock when Delta exited bankruptcy in 2007 and when the company completed its merger with Northwest Airlines last year.
Joseph Tiberi, a spokesman for the International Association of Machinists, which represents baggage handlers, customer service agents, reservations agents and others from Northwest, said “the tolerance for such compensation in today’s environment is wearing thin.”
“Congress is mandating that executives who take advantage of federal bailout money have to limit their compensation, and Delta executives who have taken money from employees in bankruptcy should be doing the same,” Tiberi said.
Delta’s incentives also include a program called “Shared Rewards” for employees below the director level. Those incentives at Delta pay up to $100 per month based on baggage handling performance, flight cancellation and delay rates. "
Find this article at:
http://www.ajc.com/services/content/printedition/2009/02/19/deltapay0219.html