AT&T CEO collects $18 million in pay, perks

I feel that AT&T had to do this to stop insurance abuse. Come on! Folks having 2-3 surguries to get "thin'! They found doctors that lie and say they the surguries are needed. Then againk AT&T should have limited it to one surgury, lap band or gastric by-pass but not both, or two or 3 of them!!
And all the FMLA abusers that get paid while taking there FMLA vacations! These folks found a loophole, and AT&T had to pay for it. I would do the same if I owned a company and had to put up with this kind of nonsense!

Yeah wsup with the temperature? Why did my call center keep the ac on 78 all summer? It was so hot we had sweat dripping in our eyes, and to make it worse they said the water machine wasnt working. We can only drink out of mugs there and not allowed to eat. They also advised we couldn't plug in a small fan bcz its waisting at*t electricity. Now that it's winter, it is freezing like Siberia. You mite be able to go in wout a coat, but when you get in u then have to put it on. When you look across the center, everybody is sitting there bundled up with coats zipped and scarfs on. Since AT&T took over they have done nothing but take away everything from the toilets to the trash can at your desk, these people actually removed our coat hooks from the desk. And i so agree, the new health care is a pay cut. I have been there 8 years and i damn sure wouldnt cry if i was laid off, I would be doing cartwheels in the parking lot!

You took the words right out of my mouth. Well said.

I worked in SBS (small business sales) for about a year (post SBC merger) and hated every moment of it. It didn't take long for me to learn that AT&T does not care about employees or customers. They only care about reaching the bottom line by unethical means. Management is clueless- but they keep their positions by "union busting" and forcing pre-merger employees out the door. It's obvious AT&T is setting up their employees to fail so they can justify outsourcing jobs overseas. No bonuses, benefits, incentives, training, job-posting, promotions etc etc...except for the high level executives, of course. Meanwhile, corporate america continues to destroy this nations economy (and middle class)...because that was how the corporate "system" was originally designed.

when will you wake up the company and the union no longer care. They just want your $$$$$$$$$$$$

I have been a Service Tech with AT@T now for approx 20 yrs. When I got hired on I was told by the "old timers" that this was the greatest job in the world. And they were correct, however that was when it was Pac Bell. Myself and co-workers actually looked forward to coming to work. But all of that changed in 1997 when SBC came into the picture, and it has been a downward spirol ever since. Make no mistake about it, the new AT@T/SBC cares "NOTHING" about your world or anyone elses world, and thinks even less of their Tech's. Oh Yeah, they'll preach "Your World Delivered", "We do it better than anyone else", "Customer Service", Bla Bla Bla, but the bottom line is they could give a shit. Our morning tailgates are more like a flogging session. We are treated like a 3 yr old, continually be-litteled, told that we are not meeting that majic productivity number by the widget counters, etc... I'm sure some of you know what I'm talking about. We have a credo that states "No job or service is so important that we cannot take the time to do our job saftly". However now that AT&T is in there, they should probably change it to something like "Hurry up and get out there, and try to convince our customers that we really give a shit". No matter how bad it gets, the job is still great and the customers for the most part are wonderful. I've made many life long friends doing what I do. Just keep in mind that its not the outside Tech's who are the bad guys. We're not the cheif, we're just the indians. Randy, wake up!

Sorry you feel that way. I'll be the first to admit that I have a very good job, and I actually love my job, when management stays out of the way and lets us do our job. The members of CWA are grateful for our jobs, but we are fighting for the middle class. If we sign the current contract, the company will try to eliminate more jobs, and send more work overseas. The last group of hired employees in are area are Prem Techs. They company has made them temp employees with no guaranteed hours or pay. They make less than half of the rest of the employees make. We are fighting for them. The company simply wants to take more away to boost profits.

What is sad is the reason the company gave for reducing the health care coverage. "It's what most companies are doing now". So they simply want to increase profits, thats the bottom line. We've missed so many commitment times with our customers because of the contract negotiations. The first line supervisors are coming in every morning telling us we need to focus and work harder. They really don't have a clue. And they came up with a new rule that if you don't close an out of service over 24 hours to an extreme weather code, you must call your manager. They now want us to lie so they don't get caught by the federal regulators. Kuddo's to you Mr. Stankey. Sorry I had to throw that in there. If you read the company web site, one of the pathetic managers wrote that in response to him offering a $25,000 reward for info on the cut fiber lines in California.

There you have it. Someone posting hate toward the working man. We know what kind of person this is that wishes others ill will.
Thumper

Go ahead and strike. How long can the union pay your bills? I know a lot of people that could use a job, and would cross the picket lines. Please strike!

The jerk who posted that AT&T could break union doesnt know what he is talking about.....We are strong and we will walk for our benifits.....I am sorry that person probably doesnt have a union job or maybe he is a attmanager who had their benifits stripped years ago......AT&T moved up from #27 to #10 on the Fortuen 500 list........yea things are real bad for AT&T....WE ARE READY FOR STRIKE1

The current union employees are GOOD people working and making a living like anyone else. The problem is not with the employees, it's with the CWA and their featherbedding practices. That is the irony of the current situation. If the union actually did call a strike, AT&T would be screwed up for a few weeks, maybe a few months, and would affect the bottom line for a while, but I think executive management would break the union, re-hire existing workers without a union contract, reclassify jobs so that you don't need 3 truck rolls to put in U-Verse, and it would make the company much more efficient and more competitive. Yeah, it would hurt them for a while, but they have PLENTY of cash, a lot more than the union strike fund does...

Hey, there are a lot of people looking for jobs. So if you hate ATT so much Quit! Your benifits are better then most so get over it.

This site won't let me post the links, but you can verify all this on the web. CEO Randall Stephenson makes $21,981,984 a year. None of the top 4 executives make less than $7 million a year. Randall Stephenson cut out the bonus for 2008, however he did accept a 22% pay raise and $13.2 million in options and stock incentives. At&t owns Stephenson's home in San Antonio worth $1.7 million ,that hasn't been sold, and Ralph de la Vega and James Cicconi's homes that sold for $2.9 million and $740,000 respectively. At&t owns 15 jets. 3 jets are being sold and are valued at $70 million. Former CEO Ed Whitacre got a $158 million pension. This is a short list of rumors I could verify. So why can't we keep our healthcare the way it is and get a little bit of a raise?

After 30 yrs with this company I am truely ashamed to tell anyone where I work, our lack of customer service is horrific. We have policies in place that are more concerned with tallying how many times we do something in a day than how well we do it. If we spend too much time helping the customer we are not going to be satisfactory because our average "time" for the day is now shot! We have managers that have no concern for their employees or the customer. The newer younger employees all have the attitude they are owed something & shouldn't be expected to do anything above & beyond the minimum. (Most don't even meet the mininumum, heck they can't even get to work on time & can't understand why it's such a big deal when they dont't) They can't spell, speak or use proper grammer. They do not act in a professional manner on the job but why should they most of the managers don't either. It's really sad when most of your own employees don't even have your service because of the horrible customer service. When the employees who've been with this company for over 30+ years leave this company is in for a rude awakening. The new employees have never been trained properly, the managers aren't trained & no one knows what they are doing & really don't care. But,for those of us who have spent over 30 years with this company or more & truely cared about good customer service & good work ethics our thank you for all the hard work is... "here's the door leave your 401k,health benefits & pay behind & don't let the door hit you in the ASS when you leave!" Gee thanks for the gratitude AT&T. You had qualified employees, you've just managed to run them all of or make the ones who are left no longer care! They're tired of doing the right thing, going above & beyond only to be below your "MAJIC NUMBERS" or they just get worn out trying to do their job & everyone else's job who doesn't pull their weight! I blame the union in part for some of that because they continue to save jobs for employees who should have been fired years ago. However, the fault lies with the mangers who did not do their job in getting rid of them earlier in ther careers. Despite that the Union should have called for a strike the 1st day after the contract expired. There is no reason why the company should be taking away any health benefits from employees & especially our elderly retirees. We need to stand up to the company & fight!

Here it is still pending company and union megioations to avoid a strike, bottom line company does not appreciate their employees whether you be management or non. They only taketh, I sure hope it will haunt the "directors" of this company and their families one day!!

I think it's funny how AT&T has continuously made a profit and now wants to cut health care and pay to it's employees. The managers at AT&T have already been screwed over on their health care. Maybe Randall doesn't understand that we don't all make 1.2 million a year, and that paying a $1500 deductible per person in the household is very taxing on our $60k salaries. That's $6000 a year in deductibles alone for a family of 4. We are on our way to a 2 class society if we aren't careful, those have, and those that have not.

Looks like someone isn't watching the fox in the henhouse. Isn't personal use of co. plane, home security system, if true, something like SI 24
dishonesty in the company? Doesn't look like Mr.
Stephenson is a very good role model. They used to dismiss employees for this type of behavior.

I used to work for Legacy AT&T from 1997 to 2006 until SBC purchased AT&T. I would work for them for free compaired to working for AT&T inc. They are very hard to work for. they take , take , take and hardly give. My sales manger Kimberly baskett-mckenny is the worst person to work for. AT&T inc doesn't care for the customer like the old AT&T did. Make no mistake this company doesn't want to help it's customer. they want them to call so they can sell them something. To give you an example. An acct rep has only 430 second to talk to you. If your talk time is higher they put you on a letter of warning. However they expect you to meet the Customer rules, this is where you as a customer get a call back. if you answer anything but more than sat then you hurt the account rep. I believe that you should satify every customer but you can't do it in 430 second, and you wonder why you are tranfer 4 - 5 times everytime you call into AT&T. If AT&T inc really cared for it reps it wouldn't force 430 per call time. Even AT&T Corp allowed higher talk times if you could sale. At&T inc says that they care about it customers, if this was the case they would allow reps more time to assist customers.

It seem pretty sad that AT&T inc came to the table with a medical plan like they did. It is real sad that all abuse we put up with in the sales arena that we need to bargin and/or strike for good health benefit. That is the most important issue. If Randall stephenson get his health coverage, then AT&T should show that it cares for it employees, the ones that make the company money for them. It is our ceo that take the abuse and keep on selling the product that AT&T offers. Make no mistake AT&T !!! Without the hard work that your employees do you wouldn't be as sucessful. CWA is in a strong fight for our benefit. HANDS OFF OF OUR BENEFIT

The new ATT is certainly not the old BellSouth. I miss it. Everything about ATT is centered on its' top executives and not employee focused at all. They treat their management very poorly. Customer service is just not here anymore and they really don't care about their employees. The first thing they stopped doing for their employees was sending flowers or anything when someone dies in the immediate family. Anything you go to handle anymore is such a task and no one cares. I enjoyed my years with BellSouth, but now those are in the past. I can't think of too much good to say about this new Company. What a shame. But you know it will come back to haunt them. It always does.

WHEN? You ask?! When the average american person will stop saying "What do you want me to do?, You can't fight city hall!, There's nothing we can do!, I can't afford to go on strike!," When all the people stop bitching about what they CAN'T do and start DOING something, anything! When everyone decides to stick together! The only way to fight is to stick together as one..and that means EVERYONE..we all have to stick together! Have you ever saw a war or conflict fought by just a few people who believed in something? NO! Well what makes any UNION Person think you can fight with just a few...EVERYONE needs to stick together and NOT let your Union PRESIDENT screw you either..because YOU all know that the union president and his/her cronies WORK for the COMPANY! And if you don't believe that then you really do have your head in the sand!!!!

My husband has been a loyal hard working employee (service tech/lineman) for AT&T/PacBell for 10+ years. He just told me that at his daily morning meeting, AT&T does not have enough money to give them their team award (STIP). He said, they did not meet their financial goals. When his supervisor was reading the guys the AT&T financial report, the supervisor said, "In the 3rd quarter, AT&T did not make a double digit growth, that is the first time in recent memory, the gorwth was 8 Billion dollars net. The 4th quarter was 3.2 Billion dollars net, they made approximately 31 Billion dollars net for the year. I don't understand how they can say they didn't meet their financial goals. He also told me that the AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson was not going to take his STIP bonus award. We couldn't help but think WOW how honorable. Later to find out that Randall Stephenson decieved us all. Not only did we find out that he makes around 1.1 million dollars a year, but he gets plenty of perks (co. jets, gym memeberships, security home systems etc...), and that he cashed in his stocks, right before he had made his anouncement to not take his bonus, making millions off of cashing his stocks in. Maybe if AT&T cut out perks, bonuses and cashing in on their stocks from the top, AT&T would be able to make their financial goals, and pay their employee's. I still don't see how AT&T could say they didn't meet their financial goals when they made 31 BILLION DOLLARS net. HOW COULD WE, AS HARD WORKING AMERICANS ALLOW THIS TO HAPPEN!!! It is the men/women that put in 10-12 hour days for these company's, and those same hard working men/women are the ones making the CEO's Million's and Million's of dollars... AT&T is now talking about taking back some of what was given to the hard working AT&T employee's in their last contract. I don't know how we can live... They want to cut pay, cut insurance etc.. We are already on the verg of losing our home and losing everything. We can barley afford the basics now... Milk, gas etc.. Everything is going up in price and AT&T is acting like you should be greatful you have a job. I don't think someone like Randall Stephenson has ever had to face his children and tell them "I'm sorry we can't afford that right now"... Or when your little girl asks you, "Daddy and Mommy, why do we have to move?"... "Well honey, they cut Daddy's pay and Mommy was laid off". And another thing. I don't want another stimulous package from our government, I want to keep my home!!! I want a job!!! And if the average American does nothing, than we will continue to have nothing. We, at some point are going to have to come together and let corporate America know, that we are sick and tired of them making millions, off of our sweat, blisterd hands, injured bodies etc... How could our government allow this to happen? What happend to "For The People". What they should of said was "For The Wealthy People". The rich are getting richer and the poor getting poorer. When is enough, enough? Is anyone listening out there. Why is it so hard for the government to see, corporate America is ruining America, and what America truely stands for. We are better than that. We are American's, "In God We Trust".

I read today on the company website an article from 1-30-2009 that said Mr. Randall Stephenson was not going to take his STIP (bonus) award this year due to the economy. At first I thought WOW - that is great. Then I began reading the comments from the managers throughout the company and the true story comes to light. Sure, he will not take the bonus but did take and sell stock options just prior to the announcement making tons of money. The employee's were told today that we get "nada, nothing, zero, zilch" for our STIP award for 2008. The company made money hand over fist and Mr. Stephenson collected a salary of what $1.1 Million dollars a year! He does not need a bonus! I make about $56 K a year and really look forward to our yearly bonus which for me would have been (if 100%) about $2600.00 less taxes to my Uncle Sam. Bad Bad Randall! Bad!

I really think you think you're decisions are worth 61,000 a day. That's a joke! Do you know you have Central offices out here that first line managers are telling there employees, AT&T can't afford to pay for a security gate! CHECK IN TO THE REAL WORLD.

CONSIDERING THAT THE PERSONS THAT HAVE THE MOST RESPONSIBILITIES TO THE CUSTOMER (THE SERVICE TECH DOING THE FACE TO FACE WORK) AND GET THE LEAST AMOUNT OF BENEFITS FROM DOING THEIR JOB (KEEPING THE CUSTOMER HAPPY AND STAYING WITH AT&T) SEEMS LESS IMPORTANT THEN WHAT IS PREACHED FROM THE UPPER MANAGEMENT TEAM. AND GIVEN THE FACT THAT UPPER MANAGEMENT PUT INTO PLACE POLICIES TO DO NOTHING MORE THAN HINDER THAT VERY COMMITMENT. THERE ARE SO MANY MORE VALUABLE WAYS TO IMPROVE THE CUSTOMERS VIEW OF THE COMPANY BUT THE UPPER MANAGEMENT TEAM SPENDS NO TIME WITH THE TECHS (WHO HEAR EVERYDAY AS THEY COME FACE TO FACE WITH THE CUSTOMERS) WHAT THE REAL CONCERNS, PROBLEMS, OR ISSUES REALLY ARE TO THE CUSTOMERS. BUT BY DOING THINGS THEIR WAY ITS EASIER AND MORE PROFIT BENEFITING TO THE COMPANY TO SIT AROUND AND THINK UP THESE SO CALLED POLICIES THAT DO NOTHING MORE THAN BANDAGE PROBLEMS OR ISSUES AND NOT ACTUALLY FIX THEM. SO TO REWARD UPPER MANAGEMENT WITH THESE OUTRAGEOUS SALARIES AND BENEFITS IS NOTHING MORE THAN A SLAP IN THE FACE TO ALL WHO WORK UNDER THEM. THE ENTIRE UPPER MANAGEMENT TEAMS JOBS SHOULD BE INVESTIGATED TO VERIFY PROPER PAY AND BENEFITS AS THEY SEEM SO FAR OUT OF PROSPECTIVE WITH ALL THAT IS JUST AND FAR (CONSIDERING THAT YOU SHOULD PUT IN AN HONEST DAY WORK FOR AN HONEST DAYS PAY)

As a 33 year former loyal customer who has had AT&T "lose" all my stored data not once but twice, while claiming they are unable to retrieve it, they have destroyed my business, both times in the week prior to Christmas. If Randal's data was lost we can bet that it would be retrieved post haste. The era of treating CEO'S like demi gods has to end, and we the consumers have to make certain this occurs. Anyone here old enough to remember when AT&T held a "MONOPOLY" and was "broken up"? Well obviously it did not work, AT&T holds a monopoly again and it is at the consumers' expense. Can we band together and end this nonsense? The economy indicates that we had better move quickly, before any more "perks" are given out at our expense.

You have to be kidding? This man makes that kind of money while the telephone repairmen are being layed off. These men and women make this company. How sad that they make the cuts at the bottem, the very foundation of this company. Mr. Stephenson, I hope you know that a building falls down without a good foundation. So make your cuts, at the top, where the extra cherry on top goes. I'm not sure how you sleep at night, knowing what you make in bonus's yet, you will cut jobs right before Christmas this year. I hope your family has a great Christmas; while the men and women who work 10 to 12 hour days get to tell there children, I lost my job. You go enjoy riding in that jet! Merry Christmas!

This company is one of the worst to work for from my experience . 12 years until the new AT&T took over. They ruin lives!!!!

What really stinks about this whole thing is AT&T cut out everyones bounes but Directors and above. What happened to all the people below them actually making all the money for them? Something does not sound right.

American board of directors have gone wild, or asleep. The American board of directors system is conflicted. Motorola, Sprint, GM, Ford, and hundreds of great American corporations are being destroyed by clubby, cluless, and conflicted boards. It's plain and simple corruption of basic human moral values.

I find all of this pretty hilarious. I have also read a posting about Randall complaining that there were no qualified workers left in America in order to defend the $750 million that ATT is spending in India. I worked as a computer programmer for 12 years in an ATT/SWB owned company that made me give up 3 days of vacation without pay per year and finally shipped my job to a more economic India. Even though I had a company ID, I couldn't sign on to the corporate website and because I was in the salaried group I had to agree to be a union buster when things heated up there. Just a number. What a crock the whole bailout scene in America is. Is anyone going to say anything? And Randall can only say that he made more money than his predecessor Ed Whitacre...
-Sal DiGiacomo

I actually quit AT&T because when I got my annual merit last year and factored in my new insurance premiums and the cut in bonus, I actually got a pay cut. besides, this company freezes its employees by maintaining building temperatures to rather cold temp. I miss the old AT&T Wireless.

Randall made all that money yet he wants to cut his employes wages and benefits. I bet alot of his employees would love to have a membership to a 10,000 club This seems like the opposite of Robin Hood rob from the poor and give to the rich

I think this salary is outrageous! They have laid off so many people in 2008 and more are due to be laid off this year. AT&T can't afford to pay someone an annual salary of $60K but they can afford all this for the CEO?! I don't think so!

HI,

I do not have a problem with CEO salaaries or perks, because the respondsibilities they have are many. When things are up, they are praised, when they are down, you know the other side. I do have a problem with the fact that I am an ex-employee by choice and worked very hard for this company, and due to the fact that I left 2 months before the end of 2007, I did not receieve a bonus that was earned from January 2007-October 2007 when I left. If a CEO can make this much money, how bad would if have hurt to give me and many others what we deserved.

This shows me that I made the right decision.

thanks

I think no one in the company should have perks like this. Perks should be no more than 100% of one's salary.

The AT&T Mobility bonus was set at 122% of target. Great news but when you factor in what your salary and bonus compares to a per hour rate, it is not worth it. This company, worried that it cannot find "educated" US citizens, is the same company that treats their employees by instilling fear and overworking their employees. This company is dysfunctional and everything is a fire drill. If anything, Stephenson should be personally thanking each employee for his perks. They make the company, not him.

I love the way these articles always seem to blow out of proportion contracted items into "total compensation". His employment contract should be available to any board member, of which he is the chairman, and voted on by that same board. Until the boards of directors are held accountable instead of trained monkeys of the Chairmen, nothing will ever change. Until the institutional investors start harumping nothing wil ever change. His base salary is only 24 times the average employee salary, is that out of whack???

The bonus appears out of whack...especially since what he inherited heavily contributed to AT&T's (and his) performance over his 7 months of '07 tenure. However, the 'perks' such as a home security system, club membership and use of corporate jet is fiscally irresponsible and should not sit well with shareholders. Why shouldn't he (and other CXO's like him) pay for those 'personal' perks out of his own deep pockets??

His performance does seem a bit out of line since the general employee bonuses that were supposedly company performance based was only 2-3% above the baseline 100%.