KPN slashes ‘fat-cat’ pay

Dutch telecoms firm KPN said it will cut the pay packages of its management after union protests.

Dutch unions demanded KPN curb executive pay

KPN chairman Ad Scheepbouwer will give up his fixed bonus of 500,000 euros each year and a number of other possible financial benefits totalling 11 million euros.
  
The bonus will go into a fund for the development of new broadband applications.
  
“That is good for everybody,” the chairman said in a press release.
  
Scheepbouwer has agreed to forego all financial benefits if KPN is bought and he departs the company. Severance pay for the chairman and members of the board of management will be reviewed, the company said in a statement.
  
KPN decided to lower the management pay and severance packages after Dutch unions threatened to take the company to court over the matter. 

Fat cats
  
The unions argued that the so-called “fat cat” pay at the top was disproportionate to the far-reaching cutbacks KPN pushed through to counter the global downturn in the telecoms sector.

Last year KPN struggled with more than 22 billion euros in debts after near-bankruptcy in 2001. After a management overhaul the company focussed on three key markets: the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany.
  
KPN last year fired thousands of people in a bid to cut costs.

Source: News Agencies