Ford Chairman’s Pay Dives 59%

As Ford Motor Co.’s earnings fell in 1990, so did Chairman Harold A. Poling’s.

Poling’s 1990 compensation dropped 59%. to $1.2 million from $2.9 million, according to the auto maker’s proxy statement issued to shareholders on Monday.

Three of Ford’s other top officers also took double-digit cuts for 1990 as the auto industry struggled with a recession, a lingering cyclical downturn and the effects of the Gulf War.

Ford’s net income in 1990 plunged 77.4% to $860 million from $3.8 billion in 1989. The results included a $519-million loss in the fourth quarter.

The United Auto Workers union, a perennial critic of fat compensation packages for executives, used the Ford report to scold the auto maker for the gap in pay between executives and Ford hourly workers. The typical employee makes about $16.50 an hour, or $31,680 a year, not including overtime or other adjustments.

“The disparity between the amounts paid to Ford’s top management and the wages received by its salaried and hourly workers, not to mention the unemployed and others even far less fortunate, is far too wide and raises deep concerns about the values of Ford’s corporate leadership,” said a statement by UAW President Owen Bieber and Vice President Ernest Lofton, head of the union’s Ford Department.