Say-on-Pay' at Verizon a Major CWA Victory

The pay and perks of Verizon executives face closer scrutiny from shareholders starting in 2009, a major victory for CWA, the IBEW, AFL-CIO and retirees who worked for corporate governance reform.

The company on Nov. 2 announced it will hold a vote each year for investors to approve or disapprove executive compensation packages. While the vote is non-binding, it will create a public record of whether Verizon's board acts in accordance with its shareholders' wishes. Among those deeply concerned about runaway executive pay at Verizon are CWA members who in their 401(k) plans own more than $2 billion in Verizon stock.

Verizon also acted to limit conflicts of interest by ensuring that the company's compensation consultants will no longer be allowed to perform any other work for the company, and it redefined the executive severance packages, which cannot exceed 2.99 percent of the executives' pay, to include the value of future services the departed executives might provide as consultants.

At the shareholder meeting last May in Pittsburgh, District 13 rallied CWA members from across Pennsylvania, joined by Steelworkers and others in a march by 1,200 supporters to the meeting site to demand governance reform and also bargaining rights for Verizon Business techs seeking union recognition.

The resolution calling for the up or down advisory vote on executive pay was adopted by a 50.18 percent majority of shares voted. Bowing to that pressure, Verizon this month became only the second company to adopt annual advisory votes. Aflac, the world's largest seller of supplemental health insurance, became the first in February.

Further information is available on the website CWA constructed to inform shareholders at http://investor.cwa-union.org/verizon.