If anyone doubts the effectiveness of shedding a little daylight on corporate behavior, consider the outburst following the revelation that Transocean paid out millions in bonuses to its top executives for its “exemplary safety record.”
This was the company that was building the Deepwater Horizon oil rig that exploded in the Gulf of Mexico, killing 11 workers and spilling millions of gallons of oil into the gulf. They had either forgotten the whole thing, or considered the workers expendable – just the cost of doing business.
When news of the bonuses surfaced a few days ago, the blogosphere lit up with outrage that finally filtered to the larger news media. The company thought better of their decision, and the executives announced the money would go to the victims’ compensation fund.
That sounds nice, but the story’s not over. Both BP and Transocean have set up victims compensation funds, ostensibly to pay for the damages they caused. BP has launched a slick PR campaign making it seem that everything has gone back to normal, and people are getting the money they deserve for the losses they suffered.
Not so.
Both Transocean and BP have been dragging their feet paying out for the damage they caused, either by being slow in issuing checks, paying out way less than expected, or in many cases simply not paying at all.
The state governments of Louisiana, Mississsippi, and Alabama are all in the process of filing lawsuits to get them to shake loose some of their billions.
We see the ads, but we don’t see the news. Why not?
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