“Corporate America’s perverse pay practices become even more disturbing when we consider another often overlooked reality: Ordinary Americans are supporting the inequitable corporate economic order through the hundreds of billions of dollars in taxpayer-funded contracts and subsidies that flow every year to for-profit businesses,” the study said. “Of the 300 companies, 119, or 40%, received federal contracts totaling $37.2 billion October 2019 and May 2022.”
“Maximus, a company that manages federal student debts and Medicare call centers, took in more federal contracts than any firm in the sample with $12.3 billion. In 2021, the Maximus CEO collected $7.9 million in compensation, 208 times the firm’s median paycheck. The company’s call center workers have staged recent walkouts over pay and benefits,” the report said.
“Amazon, the second-largest federal contractor in our sample, amassed $10.3 billion, with most of this coming from providing web services for the Department of Defense, the report said. “Amazon’s new CEO raked in compensation worth $212.7 million last year, 6,474 times the company’s median pay.”
The pay discrepancies are drawing increased ire from workers as exhibited by more moves to unionize workers and by the current resignations that are plaguing the labor market,” Anderson said.
Investors could take action at stockholder meetings and, more importantly, policy makers can take a number of steps to curb the excesses, she said. San Francisco and Portland, Ore., have passed ordinances to tax corporations with large pay gaps, and similar legislation has been introduced in Congress. Limitations also could be added to federal contracts to limit executive pay, Anderson said. The report also urged the president to ban top executives at federal contractors from selling their personal stock for a multi-year period after a buyback.