Say what???

There's been a big stink here over Pacific Brands laying off 1850 workers after giving the directors big pay rises. Apparently lots of people are calling for the Government to "do something", e.g. ...

Pay umpire should rein in CEOs: Greens

THE Rudd government's new industrial umpire should be given the power to curb excessive executive salaries, the Greens say.

Greens Leader Bob Brown says they will look to amend the Fair Work bill currently before parliament in an effort to rein in fat cats' pay.

"Under the Greens' proposal, the Fair Work Australia commission would review executive salaries before ordinary workers are made redundant,'' Senator Brown said.

"The commission would require a company to explain why high executive salaries should not be lopped in preference to jobs.''

Senator Brown said the Greens were receiving legal advice on whether the corporations power of the constitution could be used to empower Fair Work Australia to regulate companies' internal affairs.

The new umpire will replace the Australian Industrial Relations Commission, the Fair Pay Commission and the Workplace Authority from the beginning of next year.

The Greens push comes after it was revealed 13 directors of the Bonds clothing manufacturer Pacific Brands gave themselves massive pay rises in 2008 before sacking 1850 workers.

There was more outrage on Friday in response to reports outgoing Telstra chief executive Sol Trujillo will walk away with a $3 million pay bonus.

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Umm, WHAT? How can the Government regulate a public company? How can they regulate whether or not a company makes people redundant?

This is all too "flashback to Atlas Shrugged" for me!