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CWAers Take Action at Annual Meetings
CWA members and supporters were out in force at the shareholder meetings of Verizon Communications and General Electric. Co.
In Fort Wayne, Ind., CWAers rallied outside the Verizon meeting, taking the "Jobs, Not Greed" message to shareholders in leaflets before the meeting and in remarks to shareholders and corporate officers inside the convention center.
More than 350 CWA members, many attending the District 4 meeting, rallied to support Verizon workers and the campaign to maintain quality service and quality jobs.
They heard from CWA vice presidents Jeff Rechenbach and Vince Maisano, IUE-CWA vice president Bruce Van Ess, CWA Local 4371 President Tammy Drollinger, CWA Retired Member Council president Ed Creegan and Dave Reardon, IBEW Local 2222.
Inside the meeting, Maisano and others urged shareholders to support a resolution to cap Verizon's total compensation for its CEO at 50 times what an average Verizon worker makes. CEO Ivan Seidenberg's pay for 2002-$25.6 million including the value of stock options-was 512 times that of the average worker. That resolution was supported by an estimated 18 percent of voted shares.
Verizon shareholders did vote to limit the size of severance packages granted to the company's top executives, advising Verizon to seek shareholder approval for future packages.
A similar resolution narrowly lost at the GE annual meeting in Charlotte, N.C., where 48.3 percent of voted shares supported a proposal to limit executive severance packages.
IUE-CWA members and retirees held a "teach-in" on GE tactics and leafleted shareholders outside the meeting. IUE-CWA President Ed Fire stressed that "there is simply no justification for the gap" between what GE executives are given and the earnings of an average worker at GE-CEO Jeff Immelt currently earns about 314 times the annual salary of an IUE-CWA member at GE.
Fire also outlined the shareholder proposals IUE-CWA was supporting, including measures to limit executive severance and retirement packages, to ensure that the award of stock options is tied to executive performance and to adopt a workplace code of conduct based on the International Labor Organization's conventions on workplace and human rights.
Inside the meeting, IUE-CWA retirees spoke to the need for a pension increase to offset retirement benefits that don't keep up with the cost of living.
In Fort Wayne, Ind., CWAers rallied outside the Verizon meeting, taking the "Jobs, Not Greed" message to shareholders in leaflets before the meeting and in remarks to shareholders and corporate officers inside the convention center.
More than 350 CWA members, many attending the District 4 meeting, rallied to support Verizon workers and the campaign to maintain quality service and quality jobs.
They heard from CWA vice presidents Jeff Rechenbach and Vince Maisano, IUE-CWA vice president Bruce Van Ess, CWA Local 4371 President Tammy Drollinger, CWA Retired Member Council president Ed Creegan and Dave Reardon, IBEW Local 2222.
Inside the meeting, Maisano and others urged shareholders to support a resolution to cap Verizon's total compensation for its CEO at 50 times what an average Verizon worker makes. CEO Ivan Seidenberg's pay for 2002-$25.6 million including the value of stock options-was 512 times that of the average worker. That resolution was supported by an estimated 18 percent of voted shares.
Verizon shareholders did vote to limit the size of severance packages granted to the company's top executives, advising Verizon to seek shareholder approval for future packages.
A similar resolution narrowly lost at the GE annual meeting in Charlotte, N.C., where 48.3 percent of voted shares supported a proposal to limit executive severance packages.
IUE-CWA members and retirees held a "teach-in" on GE tactics and leafleted shareholders outside the meeting. IUE-CWA President Ed Fire stressed that "there is simply no justification for the gap" between what GE executives are given and the earnings of an average worker at GE-CEO Jeff Immelt currently earns about 314 times the annual salary of an IUE-CWA member at GE.
Fire also outlined the shareholder proposals IUE-CWA was supporting, including measures to limit executive severance and retirement packages, to ensure that the award of stock options is tied to executive performance and to adopt a workplace code of conduct based on the International Labor Organization's conventions on workplace and human rights.
Inside the meeting, IUE-CWA retirees spoke to the need for a pension increase to offset retirement benefits that don't keep up with the cost of living.