For Immediate Release
Tuesday, April 08, 2003
AFSCME Pension Plan Calls for Shareholder Role in Director Nominating Process in Wake of Tenet Reform Announcement
WASHINGTON —The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Pension Plan announced today that it would continue its governance reform activities at the Tenet Healthcare Corporation (NYSE:THC) following a company announcement that Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Barbakow will step down from the board of directors at the next annual meeting. Mr. Barbakow's resignation from the board is viewed by the plan as a response to its shareholder proposal submitted two weeks ago which calls for a split of the jobs of Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer. Currently Mr. Barbakow holds both positions. Tenet also announced that its three most senior directors would resign from the board as well.
"We consider the actions announced by Tenet today to be good first steps on the road to real governance reform. Now the Tenet board must open up the director selection process to interested long-term shareholders who have been badly damaged over the last six months by the company's actions. We will be proposing a nomination process to the board in the next week which will allow for a real nominating role for shareholders," said Gerald W. McEntee, chairman of the pension plan and president of AFSCME.
The AFSCME Pension Plan is an owner of Tenet stock and is the sponsor of the proposal.
Public employee pension plans that provide retirement benefits for AFSCME members own more than four percent of Tenet's outstanding shares.
AFSCME represents 1.3 million public service employees and health care workers nationwide. The union represents approximately three percent of Tenet's employees at hospitals in California and Pennsylvania.
