Always do everything you ask of those you command.
– Gen. George S. Patton
Singing River should return to the old tradition of publishing the CEO’s salary. We know that in 1996 CEO Robert Lingle received a $56,000 raise which brought his annual salary to $209,400.
He also had a golden parachute built in to his five year contract, but the details of that were never disclosed.
A few years ago Singing River eliminated overtime and reduced clinical employee hours to a maximum of 36 hours a week. For a nurse who was previously working 40 hour weeks, this equalled a 10% reduction in pay. After an employee outcry, executives announced that they too would share the burden by taking only a 2% pay cut.
Executive salaries can be far above the cost of living for the area. As a show of good faith, hospital leadership should at a minimum disclose their salaries. They could go one step further and agree to take a 12% cut and to forgo any future raises – exactly what they are asking of the retirees.