With the ongoing recession getting worse each passing day and no respite yet in sight, AT&T Inc plans to freeze the salaries of 120,000 non-union staff members - comprising managers and executives - and the company CEO Randall Stephenson has offered to forego his 2008 bonus.

According to a statement by the company spokesman Michael Coe, almost one-third of the workforce of AT&T would go without a salary rise this year. Citing the economy and AT&T's 12,000 layoffs last month, Stephenson asked for a cancellation of his bonus, which was to be based on the financial results of 2008.

Though Coe refused to state the exact figures of Stephenson's 2008 bonus, there is little doubt that the figures would be substantial. Stephenson, who gets $1.6 million in salary, receives a bonus that represents more than one-fourth of his compensation. In 2007, the CEO received a total compensation of $22 million, inclusive of stock awards!

The salary-freeze move by the telecommunications giant is in tune with similar measures being taken by other US corporations, along with layoffs, to confront the financial crisis. AT&T intends cutting its 2009 capital spending by 10-15 percent from last year's spending.

Earlier this week, AT&T reported a drop in its fourth-quarter profit to$2.4 billion from the year-before $2.8 billion, particularly due to merger costs, investment losses from a trust related to the merger, and job-cuts.