Abigail Disney's Twitter thread on Executive pay and furloughing Cast Members during COVID-19

[manmythlegend]

Then I suppose they'll have to accept people criticizing a system that works that way as long as they get the money they want.

I don't understand the insistence in this thread (not you specifically) that anyone who thinks this isn't working needs to be shouted down and told to be happy with the way things are. It's imperfect and that's fair to say. It's also fair to say that Disney can afford to do better and probably should.

Because she (or whomever) isn't criticizing Disney specifically. They are criticizing capitalism. And without capitalism we'd have no Disney. So I don't understand the argument.

 

[bryanfze55]

If it’s any consolation, I’ve spent way more time criticizing the timid Bob Chapek than I have loud activist Abigail Disney... two people on opposite ends of the spectrum can be equally useless.

 

[Lilofan]

The higher ups are still doing work!! Disney isn't closed, only the parks are. Iger is spending day and night trying to figure out how to save the dang company. Why shouldn't he be getting paid big bucks?

Some people are quick to blame Iger for making the big $$. It's not his call. People need to understand that executive compensation is drawn up and approved by the Disney Board of Directors and signed off by Iger. If one wants to voice a concern go to the next shareholder meeting and ask that question during Q&A.

 

[the.dreamfinder]

Executive comp is market driven. Each public company has to compete for talent. If Disney is low balling execs to pay their CMs more, then top executive talent will simply go to other companies instead of Disney. And then Disney may end up with someone like Ron Miller.

Learn your history regarding Ron Miller and that period of the company’s history.

Disney currently has a reputation in the industry for low balling executive compensation and that trickles down to skilled workers not covered by guild agreements.

 

[ImperfectPixie]

Because she (or whomever) isn't criticizing Disney specifically. They are criticizing capitalism. And without capitalism we'd have no Disney. So I don't understand the argument.

Capitalism unchecked isn't good...and that's what we've got in America. We can do better. (I'm not talking about changing what system we use - but the way capitalism works in America favors very few at the expense of huge numbers of people. We can, and should, do better.)

 

[ohioguy]

Good for Abigail Disney for calling out the hypocrisy. This is why the modern capitalist sytem no longer works and is in its twilight.

 

[networkpro]

Capitalism unchecked isn't good...and that's what we've got in America. We can do better. (I'm not talking about changing what system we use - but the way capitalism works in America favors very few at the expense of huge numbers of people. We can, and should, do better.)

We don't have pure Capitalism (Thanks England for showing us how not to do it) nor do we have a pure Democracy (that would be mob rule, with the majority deciding everything) so we have something in between moderated by laws and statutes to keep them both at bay.

You have the option of determining what "success" means for yourself.

 

[Robbiem]

If senior management are caring towards the lower down workers why not give them the same pay and benefits package pro rata?

im sure a lot of furloughed workers would give up their pay if they got the equivalent salary to other benefits ratio that Iger and co get. As others have said if its based on past performance they would more than have earned it

 

[networkpro]

Good for Abigail Disney for calling out the hypocrisy. This is why the modern capitalist sytem no longer works and is in its twilight.

Ha, so its not hypocritical to be a trust fund baby and rail against how unfair the company is that's funding it? She always has had the option of divestiture which she for some strange reason has never pursued, I guess she likes the cash influx from a successful company. As to your assertion of the viability of the current economic system, I'll just yawn in response.

 

[dreamfinder]

Disney pays Iger an amount of money that is less than what they believe he will return to the company through his labor. The Lakers pay LeBron James $20m a year in exchange for his labor because they believe he will return more than that to the team in additional merchandise sales, ticket sales, etc.
I suspect that similarly, the top CM’s who are true creative visionaries or top-shelf performers are paid well; or else they would work for Universal or another competitor.

Except that when talking about the top execs, it's a big circular love fest. So many of the boards that approve packages for the tippity top execs, are composed of top execs from other companies. And conveniently, the boards of those companies are often comprised of the same execs whose pay packet they just approved. Iger had been on the board at Apple until he stepped down from that shortly before Disney+ launched to avoid the conflict of interest. Even if they aren't directly approving each others compensation, very few (if any) want to upset the apple cart for all the rest and deny large packages.

 

[seascape]

Good for Abigail Disney for calling out the hypocrisy. This is why the modern capitalist sytem no longer works and is in its twilight.

Lets see. If you really believe that, do you support the idea that everyone sell evrrything they own, pay off all debts, private and public, and split everything that is left equally? Because if we did that we would all have nothing. The US is a debtor country and even if you took everything away from foreigners owning in the US we would each wind up with just 600. However, even that will be gone in hours, since we keep spending more than we actually have. Capitalism gave us the richest and greatest country ever created but we blew thar away during the last 25 years by spending more than we had and not saving for the pandemic that the medical profession said was coming and Hollywood and showed us would happen. The baby boomers are to blame, and since I am one, I can get away with saying it.

 

[Jon81uk]

Some people are quick to blame Iger for making the big $$. It's not his call. People need to understand that executive compensation is drawn up and approved by the Disney Board of Directors and signed off by Iger. If one wants to voice a concern go to the next shareholder meeting and ask that question during Q&A.

The issue is that there were headlines about the fact he is giving up his salary during the pandemic, but the salary is a tiny part of the overall remuneration he receives. So he looked like he was doing something amazing in the headlines, when in reality it barely affects him.

 

[drizgirl]

No one under the age of 40 cares about profanity. (excluding religious freaks)

If you say so.

 

[threvester]

Your unemployment benefit is tied to how much you made in the first four quarters of the last five completed quarters (here in CA), so that would be Jan-Dec 2019. Before the Cares Act, the benefit might be as low as 40% of your regular pay. The extra $600/week was to bring it closer to your regular pay. But it shouldn't be more than your regular pay.

$15/HR X 40 HRS = $600

 

[ImperfectPixie]

Your unemployment benefit is tied to how much you made in the first four quarters of the last five completed quarters (here in CA), so that would be Jan-Dec 2019. Before the Cares Act, the benefit might be as low as 40% of your regular pay. The extra $600/week was to bring it closer to your regular pay. But it shouldn't be more than your regular pay.

$15/HR X 40 HRS = $600

Florida unemployment maxes out at $275, I believe.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

Some are, but that's only for a small amount of time and stops at the end of July. Also, once taxes (and COBRA, should they need to get it) are taken out, it's not nearly the boon some like to claim it is.

My husband, for example, is taking home slightly less even after the $600 federal bump. And here in MA, you HAVE to have health insurance or you will face a fine.

Please stop spreading false information. Disney is covering 100% of the insurance cost of furloughed employees. They are not paying for COBRA.

Florida unemployment maxes out at $275, I believe.

You're completely ignoring the fact that the CARES Act adds $600 per week to the normal benefit.

 

[ImperfectPixie]

Please stop spreading false information. Disney is covering 100% of the insurance cost of furloughed employees. They are not paying for COBRA.

If you actually read my comments, you'd see that I'd already clarified that I was speaking in general, not specifically to Disney's employees. You quoted me yourself, and I didn't say "Disney" or "CMs" anywhere in my comment. That was an assumption on your part.

 

[Bill in Atlanta]

Except that when talking about the top execs, it's a big circular love fest. So many of the boards that approve packages for the tippity top execs, are composed of top execs from other companies. And conveniently, the boards of those companies are often comprised of the same execs whose pay packet they just approved. Iger had been on the board at Apple until he stepped down from that shortly before Disney+ launched to avoid the conflict of interest. Even if they aren't directly approving each others compensation, very few (if any) want to upset the apple cart for all the rest and deny large packages.

If the board of directors is behaving irresponsibly, shareholders can and should replace them.

 

[WDW Pro]

The auto-enroll only gets the CMs as far as automatically entering basic profile info. They then have to fight with the system to complete the enrollment and then wait for payment. It hasn't really been much of a help from what I can gather.

It's a problem across most states. The federal money is there, but the states were never designed for this level of unemployment which is overwhelming their unemployment offices. This creates a bottleneck where it may be weeks or months before people receive retroactive back pay... and each state has different rules to complicate it more.

 

[ImperfectPixie]

It's a problem across most states. The federal money is there, but the states were never designed for this level of unemployment which is overwhelming their unemployment offices. This creates a bottleneck where it may be weeks or months before people receive retroactive back pay... and each state has different rules to complicate it more.

Around the 11th or 12th of March, I sat in on a live town-hall meeting for MA unemployment...they mentioned that the week prior, they had 50 employees, and were in the process of training a couple hundred more.