CEO of rail company Norfolk Southern rewarded with 37% pay raise after derailment and toxic fire in Ohio

[beschizza]

Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2024/02/27/ceo-of-rail-company-norfolk-southern-rewarded-with-37-pay-raise-after-derailment-and-toxic-fire-in-ohio.html

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[Jesse13927]

Obviously, he needs more money. Otherwise, there’s no incentive to turn the company around or get it back on the right track. /s

[gracchus]

Whatever he did, it created shareholder value. For the psychopath that is the corporation, that’s all that counts.

[MagicFox]

@beschizza

The implication seems to be that there was an anticipated outcome of the disaster for Norfolk Southern—liabilities, bankruptcy, corporate collapse, compensation to locals, and so on—but Shaw managed to avoid it.

In the industry I work in, the reward for that is…keeping your job. Maybe a one-time bonus, but certainly not a 37% pay increase.

Then again, I work in an industry that is trying to improve living conditions for disadvantaged people, so there is evidently no value to be had. (/s just to be clear)

[dculberson]

As I’ve mentioned in the past, this area is gorgeous and includes the Little Beaver Creek and Beaver Creek State Park, which is my 9 year old’s “happy place,” where she loves to hike and fish and enjoy the nature. When we were there in July 2022 there were hundreds of giant millipedes native to the area, they were super cool and docile and a lot of fun to watch tool around. We went back July 2023, AD (After Derailment) pretty much exactly the same weekend as the previous year, and saw ZERO of the millipedes. None whatsoever, despite hours and hours of hiking. Being detritivores, they would be the hardest hit if something toxic was to settle on the leaf litter. I hope that isn’t the cause, and instead it was an early or delayed hatch, but man I can’t help but think they’ve been set back in a major way.

[jerwin]

“Yes, the planet got destroyed. But for a beautiful moment in time we created a lot of value for shareholders.”“

[sdmikev]

@gracchus

Whatever he did, it created shareholder value. For the psychopath that is the corporation, that’s all that counts.

I mean, I’ve heard of failing up, but this takes the cake.

[Scientist]

The pay increase was $3.6M, which is 240 years of working 40 hours per week at $7.25 (current US minimum wage). Anytime we describe CEO raises in a percentage it takes away from how obscene the wealth inequality is. The raise he got the year his company created an ecological disaster is more than most people will make in their life.