What can a labor union do to combat opioids? We will find out soon.
McKesson is a major manufacturer of opioids. They face lawsuits in several states for failing to control the distribution of their products. As reported in the New York Times and Charleston Gazette-Daily, McKesson paid $150 million in a fine to the U.S. Justice Department for failing to report suspicious orders of their drugs.
To illustrate: the company received 1.6 million opioid orders from a single Colorado distribution center, but the company reported only 16 as suspicious.
McKesson’s CEO John Hammergren’s pay is the root cause of the problem, says a Teamsters leader.
Hammergren’s pay is tied to company performance. He has been paid $692 million since 2008. In other words, when opioid sales flourish, so does Hammergren’s pay—and so does the incentive not to monitor excessive ordering.
The Teamsters represent some of McKesson’s employees. They have had a long-running dispute with the company. A company spokesperson says the Teamsters are simply grandstanding to put pressure on the company for a better contract.
The Teamsters administer a large pension fund. They have a financial position in the company. Now, the Teamsters have a proposal in front of the board of directors to name an independent director to monitor CEO and other executive pay, which they say is excessive.
The Teamsters are led by Ken Hall. He lives in West Virginia. The company’s response to his proposal doesn’t surprise him. But he said that opioids are destroying lives of union members and their families in his community and state.
The company spokesperson never explained how an independent director on McKesson's board who reviews executive pay will cause the company to make a better contract offer to Teamsters members. That's because there is no relationship between corporate governance and negotiating a labor agreement.
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