The Company Picnic

The Company Picnic
4/25/2003
by Lorne Clarke copyright 2003

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This song was inspired by the superhuman greed and callous inhumanity displayed by American Airlines' CEO, Donald Carty (who is, I am ashamed to say, a fellow Canadian) along with his Corporate henchmen during the contract negotiations of April 2003 - when the work force was persuaded to accept pay cuts, benefit cuts, pension cuts and job cuts... while the company brass received huge "retention bonuses" and special "secure" pensions which would not be impacted by any future bankruptcy action.
Carty's rsponse to the outraged workers? - "Sorry."
My response to Carty? - "You sir, are a Hog!"

We were all lined up at the Company Picnic
Waiting to fill our plates
It was a real nice day and the sun was shining
We all were feeling great
The Bosses were there in matching shirts
Logo on their chests
They insisted that we eat first
Said there'd be a lot of food left

So we all took some gravy and a piece of the pie
And a slice of home-made bread
But all of a sudden the Bossman hollered
And this is what he said

I'm sorry folks - there's been a mistake
I know you'll understand
There's not as much food as we first thought
So you'll have to put yours back
For as we say - it's the Company way
We share and share alike
Yeah - that's what makes our Company great
We share and share alike

Well nobody wanted to ruin the picnic
By running us out of food
So everyone gave back the little they had
But it still did no good
The Bosses all piled their plates to the sky
And the ate til they almost burst
And they drank every drop of the Koolaid up
Though we were dying of thirst

Then somebody said, "Hey let's play ball!"
But the Bosses would not play
They were wallowing like bloated hogs
When I heard the Big Boss say..

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