More than 90 companies are facing resolutions regarding sayon executive pay from shareholders hit by the credit crunch and economicslowdown, Reuters reports.
Shareholders’ targets are companies that have overpaid theirexecutives, or where pay has been deemed out of line with performance over thelast three to five years, a network for more than 70 institutional andindividual investors told Reuters last week.
“We are in the middle of a subprime mortgage crisis wheresome failing CEOs are walking away with hundreds of millions of dollars. Thatmakes no sense, and we think giving the shareholder a vote on CEO pay will helpto stop it.” — AFSCME President Gerald McEntee
The network, which was organized last year by the AmericanFederation of State, County, and Municipal Employees and Walden Asset Management is looking for companies to sponsor say-on-pay resolutions in proxy statements forupcoming annual meetings, according to Reuters.
“We are in the middle of a subprime mortgage crisis wheresome failing CEOs are walking away with hundreds of millions of dollars,”AFSCME President Gerald McEntee told Reuters. “That makes no sense, and wethink giving the shareholder a vote on CEO pay will help to stop it.”
Companies receiving resolutions include Abbott Laboratories, BearStearns, Blockbuster, among others, and similar resolutions were filed lastyear at more than 50 companies; of those, more than 42percent were supported by shareholders, AFSCME told Reuters. The investor group hasalso filed resolutions with Apple, AT&T, and Exxon Mobil.