In 2015, the average CEO took home a pile of cash and benefits worth $12.4 million -- more than 814 times what someone on US minimum wage earns in a year.
Imagine working brutally long shifts at a retail store or fast food chain and still earning so little that you need government help just to put food on the table. Now imagine knowing that your boss at corporate HQ is taking home a ridiculous pay deal worth tens of millions.
Luckily, the tide is turning.
A growing movement of activists, shareholders and everyday investors (including SumOfUs members!) is pushing to rein in overpaid CEOs -- and it’s working. Last spring, more than 75,000 of us called on mega-asset manager Blackrock to stop voting for exorbitant CEO pay packages. And Blackrock just announced that it’s going to take a tough stance on executive salary rises. This is huge.
Now it’s time to turn our sights to notorious mining giant Newmont -- where we have a real chance to stop overblown CEO pay in its tracks ahead of the company's annual shareholder meeting on April 20th.
Call on Newmont to rein in its disgraceful CEO pay package now.
Newmont thinks it can overpay its fat cat CEO without any backlash, because it doesn't think anyone is paying attention.
At the AGM, shareholders will get the chance to vote on whether they think CEO Gary Goldberg deserves a $16 million paycheck. If we can show that thousands of investors, customers and everyday people are watching, we could convince Newmont shareholders to reject this scandalous pay deal.
Executive pay has been skyrocketing for the last 30 years, while the wages of average workers stagnate. The average CEO now earns nearly 1000% more than in 1978, while average workers earn a pitiful 11% more -- not even enough to keep up with rising costs of living.
Newmont -- your CEO doesn't deserve $16 million. Reject his pay package now.
We’ve beaten Newmont before. Last year, we won our campaign to stop the mining giant’s human rights abuses in Peru, after more than 160,000 of us spoke out against Newmont’s harassment of local farmer and landowner Máxima Acuña to make way for the Conga copper mine -- a mine that’s now permanently delayed. Now we have a real chance to stop Newmont’s overpaid CEO from getting another massive raise.
We’ll be at the AGM on April 20th to deliver your signatures and hold Newmont to account.
More information
Denver Business Journal. 7 April 2017.
Financial Times. 20 January 2017.
CNBC. 17 May 2017.