The rank and file workers about to be retrenched at BlueScope Steel will be stunned to learn that the company's chief executives will be awarded lavish bonuses at the same time as their pay packets cease. To say the least - this is an insensitively timed announcement !
Chief Executive Paul O'Malley will receive a $ 720,000 bonus - in addition to his $ 1.7 million annual salary - and the man he replaced - Noel Cornish will get $ 255,000 in addition to his $ 770,000 annual stipend.
It seems that these payments are in recognition of the work they have done to cut costs within the steel making process - and which have reduced the one billion dollar loss from a figure that might have totally and permanently ended steel production in Australia.
Newspaper analysts and union leaders seem to suggest that these men have " given themselves " bonuses, but obviously this is a hysterical response. Payments of that nature originate - and are granted - by the board of directors of the company. It just seems that this board has a lousy sense of timing !
The subject of bonuses hits a raw nerve with most people because it is associated with Wall street - and the financial crash of 08 that saw people default on mortgages and lose their homes, superannuation nest eggs shrink before their eyes - and the world economy take a dive from which it still has not recovered.
The movers and shakers within the banks were bailed out with public money - and promptly awarded lavish bonuses to the very people who sliced and diced worthless paper to make paper profits for themselves, and led naive investors into a financial trap that decimated fortunes.
Unfortunately, the timing of this announcement will most likely turn stoic acceptance of this job downturn into ugly resentment - and make it harder to marshall the effort the remaining work force will need to turn around steel's fortunes and grab a survival share of the domestic steel market.
Another of those events that could have been handled in a better manner !
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