COMMON SENSE IS NO LONGER COMMON FOR TECK MANAGEMENT

A VERY SIMPLE LESSON PLAN FOR TECK SENIOR MANAGEMENT

Motivated + Rewarded Employees = Steady Profitability Increases

Disgruntled + Undervalued Employees = Steady Profitability Decreases

by RandyMac (Union supporter and local area non-union volunteer)

BASIC HUMAN NEEDS OF A PRODUCTIVE WORKFORCE ARE BEING NEGLECTED BY TECK COMINCO'S MANAGEMENT:

And as a result of Teck's delays in settling this bitter strike, employee productivity and morale in the workplace will surely suffer when employees go back to work.

It's very simple Maslow 'A Theory of Human Motivation', and Basic MBA management and simple MATH 101.

Appreciated employees work harder than neglected employees, and as a result, profits increase on productivity gains.

Employee Productivity gains = increased company profits

In my opinion, Teck's senior management has dropped the employee motivation management ball. They have set back Trail Operations record productivity increases of the past 5 years to create an environment of a disgruntled employees with a lack of motivation to work hard over the next 10 years or more.

Where's the sense in that?

Instead, senior management has no problems rewarding David Thompson, former CEO and Deputy-chair with outrageous stock options. In the past year, David Thompson has sold over $25 million in Teck stock options, (in the past 45 days) he sold approximately $5.4 million worth of his shares, and by viewing his latest Insider Trading Reports on SEDI, he has more to sell.

And all this selling by Teck executives is going on while management is touting Teck profits to analysts, with a goal to attract shareholders so they can dump their stock options at record high TECK COMINCO stock prices of $50 to $52 a share. And many other senior management officials of Teck are being bonused handsomely, by having them exercise and sell their stock options in the tens of millions during this share price high period.

But this will be short lived, because what goes up always comes down.

When a shareholder of Teck compares this executive compensation greed to the whole employee contract package for Trail Operation workers ($39 million for 3 years), this is becomes a very apparent obscene lack of consideration for shareholders rights and the rights of employees to benefit fairly during times of record company profits.

There are over 1,480 employees at Teck Cominco Trail operations, and Teck's management claims they are fair with their contract offers to striking employees. The true facts are, that employees and people in this community who supported Teck Cominco during the tough times of past years are appalled at this blatant outrageous greed of excess.

How about taking some of these executive stock options away from greedy top tier management, and give some of the company profit gains to hard working employees to keep them motivated to work hard for shareholders?

Common Sense is No Longer Common with Teck's Senior Management

Teck Cominco Shareholders should consider this fact of outrageous INSIDER TRADING (all insider reports can be found at http://www.sedi.ca) when attending analyst shareholder events such as the one being held today in Vancouver B.C.

And shareholders and analysts should ask the tough questions of Teck's management and CEO, Donald Lindsay. They should not get to carried away with all these profits, because employee morale is a major factor of a profitable and a suffering business. They should ask what are management's plans to increase productivity for gains in profits? It's one thing to reward Teck's overpaid senior management officials when times are good, but when times turn, it's the employees that will save this company because companies can't exist without the hard working employees who are motivated to create the real products that make profits for their employer.

Q: Should management not consider employee morale and productivity gains to be more important for shareholders, and shouldn't you find ways to sit down and settle this strike for our overall benefit, or are you too focused on short term profits and selling your stock options to personally enrich yourselves instead of rewarding all stakeholders?

Your Corporate Ethics mantra is hollow if your employees can't pay their mortgages and bills, and properly cloth their children because of your short cited management style.

'Teck, Town Faces Age of Mistrust'  article.

This past weekend, I read a very pointed article 'Teck, Town Faces Age of Mistrust'  was written by Jason Kirby, in the Financial Post, and it clearly sums up this simple fact. Employee morale and productivity will suffer for years to come.

The FP article shows the general mood and morale of striking Teck Trail Operations employees towards their once benevolent employer is not mutually beneficial between the company and the city as a whole and it will most likely have lasting affects on the whole workforce, the company and the community as productivity drops. And if employee morale and productivity suffers, profits will drop, and this is a major risk factor for shareholders.

So what's to be gained by Teck's delays in settling this strike?

They are selling power for profits, instead of looking after their employees and this community as a whole, and this is contrary to their so called Corporate Governance statements and committments to so called sound and responsible business practices in every aspect of its activities.

FROM TECK"S web site: Teck's new report, Approaching Sustainability, provides an overview of Teck Cominco's business activities, illustrates the company's governance structure for environment, health and safety and community issues and highlights key areas of focus.

Teck's senior managers need to get with the program. It's a global economy and successful companies committed to the longer term viability of operations need motivated employees to prosper. At current state of affairs here in Trail, Teck Cominco will have a tough time in the coming years to turn things around when it comes to employees trusting management. Shortages of attracting and maintaining quality employees means productivity decreases and shareholders suffer as  aresut of mismanagement and basic human need errors on the part of high paid executives that can't look after the bottom line.

It's time to sit down, remove the 'us vs them' barriers, and bargain in good faith, settle this Trail Operation strike with employees who worked hard for you during the tough times, and then everyone can have their basic human needs met by motivating employees back to work so they can feel they are valued for their contributions.

Employees have a basic human need to feel good about their life and place of work, and Teck senior management needs to consider this very important fact, or perhaps shareholders should ask you to step aside so real people managers and employee motivators can do the job for the benefit of all stakeholders.

See EMPLOYEE PRODUCTIVITY MORALE POLL for more on this issue.