Union Members, Supporters Press Corporate Reform, Ethics at Comcast

For more information: Jeff Miller or Candice Johnson, CWA Communications, 202-434-1168 jmiller@cwa-union.org and cjohnson@cwa-union.org

Philadelphia, Pa. -- Shareholders at the Comcast Corp. annual meeting today made a strong bid to reform corporate governance at the company.

A contingent of about 50 union members from the Communications Workers of America and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, along with several religious community leaders told shareholders that the company's corporate governance shortcomings must be addressed.  

The CWA Members' Relief fund introduced Proposal No. 6 calling for the establishment of a one-share-one-vote corporate structure, in place of the current capitalization structure that gives Comcast chief executive officer Brian Roberts control over a guaranteed one-third of total voting strength while holding only 3 percent of shares.

Shareholders who are taking the actual investment risk are marginalized by the voting strength of the Roberts block, CWA Research Economist Tony Daley said. The one-share-one-vote structure governs the overwhelming majority of Fortune 500 companies and major institutional investors and financial advisory firms support this as a measure of good corporate government.

Proposal No. 7, seeking a shareholder advisory vote on executive compensation, and Proposal No. 8, calling for a quantitative analysis of the differential in pay between senior executives and the lowest paid 10 percent of Comcast workers were introduced and addressed by CWA members. 

Members of the faith coalition -- representing the Community Renewal Society, Interfaith Worker Justice, Presbyterian Church of Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia Jewish Labor Committee and other groups -- used the question-and-answer portion of the meeting to focus on Roberts' actions, the company's attack on worker rights and the need for a monitoring committee regarding workers' rights abuses at the company.