A King’s Ransom
Who is Gloria Pace King? What has she done to obtain her 15 minutes of infamy? Actually, nothing that any other local CEO hasn’t done. WIth the permission and endorsement of her board of directors, she paid herself a lot of money. So far so good. Nothing the Kens or Hughs of Charlotte haven’t done or do.
It plays like this: You work yourself to the top of the heap and the heck with those under you; take all you can get. Stock, plane flights, condos and bonuses are all on the table. If you’re at the top, paying yourself 200 times what the lowest-paid employee gets paid is to be expected.
So what did GPKing do to deserve all the attention? Honestly, I can’t remember. But I do know that local attorney Bill Diehl made a deal and will reap his percentage. Of course, I could be wrong and he’s doing it on a hourly basis or even pro bono; but I doubt it. Which brings me back to the lawyers.
GPKing had a disagreement with her employer and the lawyers win. The money to pay the lawyers comes from those who donated to United Way. You know, those donations the Kens and Hughs pressure their employees to make so their company has 100% participation, while they pay themselves 200 times as much as those they (indirectly) pressure to donate. What a world.
Let us be clear. The new director of the Mecklenburg United Way, Jane McIntyre, is here to clear the name of the United Way and get United Way back on track to high donation levels. Part of that is putting the GPKing issue to rest. So taking $700,000 from the kitty, she pays off Diehl and GPKing. But then she acts like the money is not from the donations. She says it’s from insurance. Well who pays the premiums on that and what will the premium be the next 10 years, after a claim like that? And, she says, the payment is coming from investment income. What? The United Way invests what? Ah, donations. It’s all donations. Ms. McIntyre is trying to hard to mislead. Best to acknowledge the truth and move along.
United Way paid GPKing and her lawyer off so they’d go away. So where does that leave GPKing? Looking for her next free ride. Where does that leave Bill “the deal” Diehl? Looking for his next free ride. Here is the matter in a nutshell:
The bank presidents, friends and associates pressure their employees to donate to United Way. How does one know? Because the employees talk about the pressure. These are the same employees the presidents pay as little as possible, while paying themselves millions. So the employee, often making little above minimum wage, gives some of their earnings to United Way to get the bosses off their backs. The people at United Way then use those donations to pay their employees six-figure salaries, invest some, pay insurance premiums, pay the lawyers, and pass along money to other charities.
Then the United Way has a big party where all the bosses get together and pat each other on the back, bragging about how well they did pressuring their employees to give money to United Way. And just think, this great party is paid for by the donations of their poorly paid employees. And by the way, how about that $2 million bonus!
Bah, humbug. Give your money to the Salvation Army or the Boy Scouts. Forget United Way. Let the bosses take care of themselves and their lawyers.
Is some of this inaccurate? I don’t know. Maybe. Who cares? Maybe there is no party. Certainly we should be rid of United Way and the misuse of employees it has long been associated with. Donate to the charity of your choice. Leave the high paid United Way out.
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