A tip of the hat to Tom Parkinson, my nomination for Ontario Employee of the Week.
Tom’s been toiling away in the shops at the province’s Hydro One for the past few years, and I have to say, his apprenticeship has been coming along very well. All reports have it he’ll soon be qualified to receive his papers as a full-fledged Hydro One worker. I am happy for him, but still kind of in the dark as to what the “One” in Hydro One stands for.
I first became aware of Tom in 2001 in his fledgling years with the company when he was president and chief executive officer of network services, earning a mere $115,135 for his efforts plus $440 in taxable benefits. To some, that might seem like an unfair wage, but that was back in 2001, remember, when a dollar would go a lot farther. An $80,000 Cadillac, for example, cost only $78,000 back then and a million dollar home could be picked up for $950,000. A bottle of pop was a dollar, unlike today when it’s, well it’s still a dollar, but the bottles aren’t as full as they were back then.
[the_ad_placement id=”top-of-page”]
That year, no doubt, when Tom was trying to scrape by, I can envision him secretly seething in his office just down the hall from his boss, Eleanor Clitheroe, the then-president and CEO of Hydro One, who was making more than 10 times what he was – $1,249,597 to be exact, plus $120,096 in taxable benefits. Her benefits, for pity’s sake, were more than Tom’s entire salary. However, things went a bit sour for Eleanor somewhere along the line and she ended up walking the plank (and landing in a bed of feathers). Tom, no doubt, wiped away a tear.
After that, things got a little better for Mr. Parkinson. In 2002, in fact, he got his boss’s job plus a little pay hike to $557,201 and $5,811 in benefits. Never a rash man, still he rushed out and finally bought that new washer and dryer he’d had his heart set on.
And then the following year, having burned the midnight oil and giving the company everything he had, Tom got another slight raise, to $999,041 plus $54,566 in taxable benefits. Yes, indeed, things were looking up.
And last year, the prez hopped over that elusive million dollar mark, when he earned himself a raise to $1,069,442, though he did suffer one setback: his benefits dropped to $37,226.20 which would seem, in these tough financial times, to be a bit of a kick in the pants.
However, it’s hard to keep a good man down, and Tom’s bosses – frozen stiff with fear at the prospect of losing him to some other taxpayer-funded public utility – “gifted” Mr. P. with another modest pay hike, this time in the neighbourhood of 35 per cent, so the good CEO, in 2005, will bring in $1,475,923, and we can only hope that that will be enough to keep him from “walking.”
Yes, it’s been a roller coaster ride, but Tom Parkinson has ridden the ups and downs and now earns 1,280 per cent more than he did four years ago. That works out to a 320 per cent increase every year since 2001. But, the cost of living being what it is, the extra earnings will help the Parkinsons keep the kitchen cupboards full.
[the_ad_placement id=”top-of-page”]
And if things do get a little tight, Tom can always look forward to some day getting the extra $16 a month that the Canadian government has promised seniors in its current budget. A little extra security in these insecure times. I am sure Tom has already worked that into his household economic plan.
So, now I know what the One in Hydro One stands for: One hundred thousand, One million, One darned lucky province to have a hydro boss as valuable as One Tom Parkinson.
(Update: Life is not fair. In 2006, Tom quit his job because a report was done which showed he had a taste for luxury cars and expensive travel for which he billed the taxpayers. A sad end, unfortunately, to a promising career. After he quit, and on the way out the door, Hydro One said to their outgoing chief, “Hey Tom! Here’s another $3 million! Have a nice life!” No word on whether or not Tom said thanks. Also not known is whether or not he took the washer and dryer back.)
©2005 Jim Hagarty
