Corporate America: Do The Right Thing

January 29, 2007

AFSCME is at the forefront of pressuring corporate America to rein in skyrocketing CEO salaries and to preserve shareholder value, which determines the size of our pension checks when we retire. As a leading shareholder activist, the AFSCME Employees Pension Plan recently brought together a network of institutional investors committed to giving shareholders a vote on corporate executive pay. Our goal: to make sure that CEOs and top executives are being paid for stellar company performance and not compensated outrageously for stuffing their own pockets with generous incentives and stock options. In addition to seeking a shareholder vote on CEO pay, AFSCME is also working to make it easier for shareholders to nominate candidates to serve on corporate boards and to ensure that company directors are truly independent. These are just a few highlights of our union's ambitious 2007 shareholder program. "Large institutional investors have a duty to actively encourage good governance and corporate accountability, and that's what these proposals are seeking to do," said AFSCME President Gerald W. McEntee, who chairs the Employees Pension Plan. "Our proposals are designed to give shareholders the tools to make boards listen."