RI union slams Lifespan executives' pay

A release of Lifespan's executives' salary, bonuses and supplemental retirement contributions has been met with great consternation by the Rhode Island Hospital union. The forms - the U.S. Internal Revenue Service 990 forms for non-profit organizations - show that Lifespan's nine highest-paid executives received $9.4 million in total compensation in the last reported year, including $1.8 million in bonuses and $2.6 million in supplemental retirement contributions. Lifespan President/CEO George A. Vecchione received a total of $2.9 million in salary and benefits ? including $853,024 in base salary, $522,051 in bonuses, and $1,485,197 in retirement or deferred compensation. Timothy J. Babineau, MD, president/CEO of Rhode Island Hospital and The Miriam Hospital, received $1.1 million in salary and benefits ? including $573,675, in base salary, $379,376 in bonuses and $92,035 in retirement or deferred compensation. "We are angry, we feel disrespected," said Helene Macedo, president of the United Nurses & Allied Professionals which represents 2,200 employees at Rhode Island Hospital. "It's not justified, when we see the sacrifice that those of us who are working at the bedside are being asked to make," she told Providence Business News.