Executive pay hikes were in the spotlight Monday as hundreds of protestors gathered outside the Montreal head office of Canadian rail and aerospace company
Bombardier Inc. (
TSX: T.BBD.A,
Forum).
The protestors are reacting to news that the company had awarded five top executives and executive chairman Pierre Beaudoin US$32.6 million last year, a 50% increase from the previous year.
The company has now postponed the pay increases.
Newspaper publisher
Postmedia Corp. (
TSX: T.PNC.A,
Forum) has also been in the headlines for similar reasons.
Postmedia recently said it would lay off 54 employees in Vancouver, including 29 journalists at the Province and Sun newspapers.
That was after the publisher said it would pay $2.3 million in retention bonuses to its most senior employees, including $900,000 to President and chief executive officer Paul Godfrey.
The company said the bonuses were designed to ensure that the executives remained with the company during and after a recapitalization transaction.