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CWA Focuses on Offshoring at Sprint, IBM, GE
Shareholders at several big CWA employers will vote this spring on whether to investigate the impact of offshore outsourcing upon companies' brand names and reputations. The Securities and Exchange Commission has approved the inclusion of such proposals, sponsored by CWA, on the proxy statements of Sprint and General Electric. The SEC also has approved a resolution at IBM that addresses executive compensation and short-term strategy, including outsourcing and offshoring.
"The alarm bell has clearly been sounded and there is a very real potential for a backlash against those companies like Sprint that are moving jobs out of the country," said Jimmy Gurganus, CWA vice president for Telecommunications. "This ruling by the SEC recognizes the right of shareholders to be fully informed of a management decision that has the potential of placing shareholder value at risk and I applaud that decision."
CWA's statement of support for the Sprint proposal cites a link between the layoffs of 3,000 customer service representatives and Sprint's decision to contract with a company in India to provide customer service for Sprint PCS. Asserting that company reputations affect consumer purchases, it quotes a Wall Street Journal article pointing out that, "reputation, once lost, is extremely difficult to reclaim, no matter how much time and money companies invest in an image makeover."
Gurganus said that a large contingent of CWA members will mobilize to support the measure at the company's annual meeting April 20 in Overland Park, Kan.
GE's shareholders will address the same issue, raised in a resolution sponsored by the IUE-CWA pension fund, at GE's annual meeting April 28 in Louisville, Ky.
The IBM shareholder resolution, submitted by Jim Mangi, secretary of the Alliance@IBM/CWA Local 1701, calls for a review of executive compensation policies to determine whether they create "an undue incentive to make shortsighted decisions, by linking the compensation of senior executives to measures of performance that include net earnings, cash flow and earnings-per-share."
A statement of support for that measure cites a Time Magazine article that says managers of some American companies believe they can cut costs by as much as 40 percent merely "by taking advantage of lower wages overseas."
"The Alliance@IBM will certainly mobilize our active members and retirees around this issue," said Lee Conrad, national coordinator for Local 1701. "Offshoring has a serious impact on many who work for IBM and for communities that will lose jobs."
Conrad said IBM workers and retirees will turn out in force to support the measure April 17 at IBM's shareholder meeting in Providence, R.I.
"The alarm bell has clearly been sounded and there is a very real potential for a backlash against those companies like Sprint that are moving jobs out of the country," said Jimmy Gurganus, CWA vice president for Telecommunications. "This ruling by the SEC recognizes the right of shareholders to be fully informed of a management decision that has the potential of placing shareholder value at risk and I applaud that decision."
CWA's statement of support for the Sprint proposal cites a link between the layoffs of 3,000 customer service representatives and Sprint's decision to contract with a company in India to provide customer service for Sprint PCS. Asserting that company reputations affect consumer purchases, it quotes a Wall Street Journal article pointing out that, "reputation, once lost, is extremely difficult to reclaim, no matter how much time and money companies invest in an image makeover."
Gurganus said that a large contingent of CWA members will mobilize to support the measure at the company's annual meeting April 20 in Overland Park, Kan.
GE's shareholders will address the same issue, raised in a resolution sponsored by the IUE-CWA pension fund, at GE's annual meeting April 28 in Louisville, Ky.
The IBM shareholder resolution, submitted by Jim Mangi, secretary of the Alliance@IBM/CWA Local 1701, calls for a review of executive compensation policies to determine whether they create "an undue incentive to make shortsighted decisions, by linking the compensation of senior executives to measures of performance that include net earnings, cash flow and earnings-per-share."
A statement of support for that measure cites a Time Magazine article that says managers of some American companies believe they can cut costs by as much as 40 percent merely "by taking advantage of lower wages overseas."
"The Alliance@IBM will certainly mobilize our active members and retirees around this issue," said Lee Conrad, national coordinator for Local 1701. "Offshoring has a serious impact on many who work for IBM and for communities that will lose jobs."
Conrad said IBM workers and retirees will turn out in force to support the measure April 17 at IBM's shareholder meeting in Providence, R.I.