Ahead of union vote, a look at Lee executives salaries

On Saturday, St. Louis Newspaper Guild members at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch will vote on Lee's "final offer" five-year contract. That offer includes a 6 percent pay cut through September 2015, a one-week unpaid furlough in 2010, 2011 and 2012, and a possible "snap-back" salary increase in 2013, 2014 and 2015.

Which gives us an opportunity to look at the salary of Lee's leaders. According to the company's proxy statement released in January:

Name	2009 salary	2009 compensation	2008 salary	2008 compensation
CEO Mary E. Junck	$833,654	$882,454	$850,000	$1,089,506
CFO Carl G. Schmidt	$472,731	$612,831	$482,000	$681,492
VP Greg R. Veon	$354,058	$381,337	$361,000	$487,315
VP Kevin D. Mowbray	$328,558	$353,328	$335,000	$452,383
VP Vytenis P. Kuraitis	$262,846	$283,413	$268,000	$370,266

Salaries for each executive decreased by 1.92 percent -- or approximately a one-week unpaid furlough. Total compensation includes bonuses, stock awards and retirement account contributions; fewer of those were awarded. From 2007 to 2008, each executive's salary increased by more than 3 percent.

If Junck followed the salary guidelines and furloughs the union will vote on:

	6 percent pay cut	Furlough	Snap-back	Annual salary
2010	$799,000	$16,346.15		$782,653.85
2011	$799,000	$16,346.15		$782,653.85
2012	$799,000	$16,346.15		$782,653.85
2013	$799,000		$19,975	$818,975
2014	$799,000		$40,948.75	$839,948.75
2015	$799,000		$62,996.16	$861,996.16

Furlough represents one-week's salary, calculated by dividing the annual salary by 52 weeks. The "snap-back" is added if the company increases its annual revenue by at least 2 percent, which I am assuming in this example, and will result in a salary increase of 2.5 percent in the last three years of the contract.

If Mowbray, who in addition to being a vice president of publishing is also the publisher of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, followed the same salary reduction and furlough schedule:

	6 percent pay cut	Furlough	Snap-back	Annual salary
2010	$314,900	$6,442.31		$308,457.69
2011	$314,900	$6,442.31		$308,457.69
2012	$314,900	$6,442.31		$308,457.69
2013	$314,900		$7,872.50	$322,772.50
2014	$314,900		$16,138.62	$331,038.62
2015	$314,900		$24,827.90	$339,727.90

From 2008 to 2015, Junck's and Mowbray's salaries would have increased by 1.41 percent (assuming, of course, that there were no bonuses or other additional compensation).

Earnings down 'only' 9.2 percent

Lee's revenue continues to slide: January total revenue fell 9.2 percent from the previous year. At the annual stockholder meeting, CFO Carl Schmidt said he expects the "improvement" to continue in February and March.

In the second quarter, which ends in March, Lee expects operating costs to fall by 9 percent. No details on cost-cutting measures, but compensation costs have fallen 19.6 percent from 2008 to 2009. The opening slide in the stockholder slideshow said "We continue to generate substantial cash flow in a difficult economy."

CEO Mary Junck told stockholders that Lee's papers and websites reach up to three-fourths of adults over a week in their markets.

"In a time of rapidly evolving digital interactivity, our newspapers and online sites remain in front, by far, surpassing all print, broadcast and online competitors as the primary source for local news, information and advertising in our communities," she said. "Without us, most local news would never come to light."

Schmidt also said the company paid down $198 million of debt in 2009.

Read Lee's statement on its earnings report, and see the 31-page slideshow (PDF).

Execs' salaries frozen

Salaries for the Lee execs at the top have been frozen. That means:

• CEO Mary Junck: $850,000
• CFO Carl Schmidt: $482,000
• VP Greg Veon: $361,000
• VP Kevin Mowbray: $335,000
• VP of HR Vytenis Kuraitis: $268,000