Stop Corporate Bonuses for Borders Executives Who Laid Off 6,000 People

How We Won

Apr 21, 2011

Weeks after Borders, Inc filed for bankruptcy protection and announced that 225 stores would close and more than 6,000 employees would lose their jobs, the company's President and CEO asked for $8.3 million in executive bonuses.

But a group of retrenched former Borders employees started organizing on Change.org, demanding that the request for executive bonuses be withdrawn or amended so as to tie lower bonuses to successfully paying off the company's debts, helping it survive and thus protecting the thousands of workers that remain.

The pressure helped lead to the U.S. Trustee, a bankruptcy watchdog for the Justice Department, to object to the bonuses and push for the plan to be amended. The bonuses were indeed restructured and yesterday a bankruptcy judge approved a plan which ties rewards for top executives to recoveries for creditors and a series of benchmarks in their performance saving the company.

The victory is bittersweet, as the executives who grounded the company are still getting a hefty sum of cash. But it is thanks to public pressure that those bonuses were reduced, and are now directly tied to success in saving the company, not a reward for bankrupting it.

"Thanks to everyone," said Kyle McCarthy, one of the former Borders employees. "With the help of the 2,000 that took action on this issue we were able to hold executives accountable and curb the excessive bonuses awarded. Hopefully, this will serve as motivation for everyone to continue to push for progress and stand up for what's right, no matter what the cause. By utilizing platforms such as Change.org, we can truly show that there is power in numbers and we can make a positive difference in the world."

We, laid off Borders employees, demand that the company's executives not be paid bonuses after 6,000 people lost their jobs!

Weeks after Borders, Inc filed for bankruptcy protection and announced that 225 stores would close and more than 6,000 employees would lose their jobs, the company's President and CEO is asking for $8.3 million in executive bonuses (including nearly $1.7 million for himself)!

Borders is in more than $1 billion debt, and employee raises have been frozen for years, yet last year the CEO got an 87 percent salary increase.

This kind of executive compensation flies in the face of all financial logic and morality. 6,000 people have lost their jobs and these guys think they deserve millions in bonuses for making it happen!

Join our campaign to demand that the request for executive bonuses be immediately withdrawn, or significantly amended so as to tie much lower bonuses to successfully paying off the company's debts, helping it survive and thus protecting the thousands of workers that remain.

Why People Are Signing

Recent Signatures