Investors push 90 companies for say on CEO pay (AFSCME leads the way)

http://www.reuters.com/article/etfNews/idUSN2426366520080125

Thu Jan 24, 2008 7:16pm EST

By Joseph A. Giannone

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. CEO pay packages will come under greater fire at annual meetings in the next few months as more than 90 U.S. corporations face resolutions from stockholders battered by the credit crunch and economic slowdown.

The targets are companies that overpaid their executives, or where pay is deemed out of line with performance over the past three to five years, according to a network for more than 70 institutional and individual investors on Thursday.

The network, organized last year by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees and Walden Asset Management, wants companies to sponsor "say on pay" resolutions in proxy statements for upcoming annual meetings.

Typically, shareholders submit resolutions in December and January for annual meetings that take place in the spring.

"We are in the middle of a subprime mortgage crisis where some failing CEOs are walking away with hundreds of millions of dollars. That makes no sense, and we think giving shareholders a vote on CEO pay will help to stop it," AFSCME President Gerald McEntee said. AFSCME members participate in pensions managing more than $1 trillion in assets.

Companies receiving resolutions include Abbott Laboratories (ABT.N: Quote, Profile, Research), Bear Stearns Cos (BSC.N: Quote, Profile, Research), Blockbuster (BBI.N: Quote, Profile, Research), Capital One Financial Corp (COF.N: Quote, Profile, Research), Citigroup Inc (C.N: Quote, Profile, Research), Coca-Cola (KO.N: Quote, Profile, Research), Countrywide Financial (CFC.N: Quote, Profile, Research), Lexmark (LXK.N: Quote, Profile, Research), Merrill Lynch & Co (MER.N: Quote, Profile, Research), Morgan Stanley (MS.N: Quote, Profile, Research), Motorola (MOT.N: Quote, Profile, Research), Northrop Grumman (NOC.N: Quote, Profile, Research) and Wells Fargo & Co (WFC.N: Quote, Profile, Research).

FULL 2 page story at link.