Sounding Off: When the AFL-CIO created its Web site on executive pay, it asked visitors to send "BackTalk;" It has received more than 1,000 responses; Here are some samples:
"It seems that Fortune 500 executives are poor students of history. Have they ever heard liberte, egalite, fraternite? They must be begging for guillotine."</br></br>"Leave the CEOs alone!! They work hard to get where they are, they deserve the high salaries. They work long hours, are away from home many nights, travel a lot. Put up with a lot of unhappy, unskilled and unappreciative people."</br></br>"No raise for us little guys for three years and the management all got bonuses and 15% raises. Do you think they will still get the same quality work from the lower ranks? It is time for the management to give respect and thanks to the ones that work for them."</br></br>"I'm still mad today (at AT&T), and have been considering different ways of reprisal for some time. It's time for an `Economic Injustice' tax. Since it is the shareholders [that] reward CEOs for layoffs, I think the remedy is to tax shareholders a flat fee (per share) every time a company lays off a certain percentage of its labor force. There should also be levies for outsourcing, and moving jobs offshore."</br></br>"I noticed you didn't mention what any of the mucky-mucks at the AFL-CIO pay themselves."