John Watson made $14 million in 2010!

I blogged about the raise Chevron’s CEO John Watson recently received that increased his salary to $1.6 million, but I was not aware of the perks that come from being the CEO of one of the least reputable U.S. Corporations. I didn’t mention performance-based bonuses, stock options, contributions to an employee savings plan and small things like the use of company airplane.

According to an Associated Press analysis John Watson made $14 million in 2010 alone!

Isn’t life great when you are Chevron’s top executive? It’s a shame though that while chasing those millions Chevron trampled over so many innocent people’s lives and now does not have the decency to clean up its mess in Ecuador. Shameful.

Chevron giving away millions to its executives…

Instead of spending at least a small portion of the huge profits on the cleanup of the toxic mess in Ecuador and bringing relief to those suffering from Chevron’s contamination, Chevron’s board of directors decided to give that money to its top officials.  Chevron’s CEO John Watson has just received a raise and is now making $1.6 million a year!!!

Apparently to make millions you need to be unscrupulous, manipulative and make sure your company ranks high among the least reputable American corporations. Never mind billions of gallons of toxins deliberately dumped in the Ecuadorian Amazon; never mind thousands of people suffering from the contamination; never mind all the lies and manipulation!

Don't Let Anyone Mention Ecuador!

A few months ago I blogged about Chevron having protesters arrested at its annual shareholder meeting in Houston. Chevron’s CEO John Watson went even further and filled criminal charges against Chevron’s longtime critic Antonia Juhasz for speaking out about Chevron’s despicable environmental record. I wonder if it was also John Watson who thought forcing people to stay quiet would be a solution.

Read more on Chevron Pit.

CAN YOU STOP US?

I guess Chevron's CEO John Watson wanted to show everyone how much he cares about the environment when he asked the government for stronger safety standards that would prevent disasters like the one happening in the Gulf of Mexico now from happening again. Doesn't it sound though like he is saying that unless the government stops the oil companies, they will do whatever they want? While trying to save money they will put our world at risk and if anything disastrous happens, they will just find ways to escape the responsibility.

Chevron's Watson to Feds: Stop Us Before We Hurt Somebody

DON'T MENTION ECUADOR

Chevron's shareholders should be aware! The company will silence anyone who dares to speak about company's unacceptable behavior and environmental crimes that have been committed around the world. Some shareholders were denied entry to the Chevron's shareholders meeting on May 26th, others were arrested. People expressed concern and Chevron did not want to hear any of it. The only thing Chevron's CEO John Watson had to say was that Ecuadorians can count on his empathy. I guess Chevron still has no plans of taking responsibility for its actions.

Read more here: Chevron Condemned for Human Rights Abuses, Ecuador Disaster at Annual Shareholder Meeting Today

What Chevron’s money can buy…

I just read another story about Chevron using its power and money to influence people’s perception of the oil giant and to hide the unpleasant truths like Chevron’s toxic waste pits leaking oil into Ecuadorian rainforest.

Last month Chevron had the Rainforest Action Network activists kicked out of the Houston Marathon expo because they wanted to spread the message about Chevron’s crimes in Ecuador.

Now Chevron decided that RAN’s ads in the Washington Post and the New York Times do not go with Chevron’s made up, innocent image and the company’s legal team wanted the ads pulled. The New York Times did not give in but The Washington Post did.

RAN's ad from The New York Times and The Washington Post

Three points — One, I don’t think this move will bring any good to Chevron because there’s a new ad that RAN hopes the Washington Times will run, and it’s even better than the first one.

RAN's second ad

Two, this story will probably get more attention than the ads would, and three- again we see that Chevron will stop at nothing to evade responsibility.

Chevron just wants to silence anyone who dares to say anything that had not been approved by Chevron’s PR people.

To read the whole story, go here:

http://understory.ran.org/2010/02/01/chevrons-free-speech-v-ran/