Boeing Co. Executive Vice President and General Counsel Michael Luttig pulled in $3.7 million in compensation in 2009. That’s a whopping 34 percent increase from 2008—and it came during a major recession.

Meanwhile, as Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) pointed out during a hearing yesterday (see video) on the shrinking American middle class, Boeing’s workers have seen just a 3 percent increase in their average compensation over the past 20 years!

Harkin, chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, wanted to know that if things were going so swimmingly for Boeing that Luttig could pocket a 34 percent pay hike,

Why shouldn’t employees have a share of that? I’m just asking about fairness for workers.

Luttig turned to the old let’s-duck-the-question-with-a-little-humor dodge. But his lame attempt at humor just showed how out of touch he is with the real-life, middle-class problem of stagnant wages.

Mr. Chairman, my compensation is a matter of public record. I have to say, at this very instant, I have the sense that maybe it’s not enough.

Tell that to Boeing’s workers.

BTW, Boeing CEO W. James McNerney Jr. isn’t doing too bad either. He made $19.7 million in compensation in 2010. By comparison, the median Boeing worker made $33,190 in 2010. McNerney Jr. made 594 times the median worker’s pay. Check out more on CEO pay at the AFL-CIO Executive PayWatch website.