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Employees, Shareholders Challenge 'Business as Usual' at GE, IBM Annual Meetings
Note: Workers from GE and IBM are available to talk about the shareholder meetings and other activities; contact CWA to arrange interviews.
Shareholders and employees are challenging the pay practices of two of America's biggest corporations – General Electric Co. and IBM Corp. – at annual meetings.
In Waukesha, Wis., on Wednesday, April 24, members of the International Union of Electronic Workers-Communications Workers of America and other CWA supporters are pressing GE to use its profits – a record $14.1 billion last year – to maintain quality jobs and ensure workers' retirement security.
Union members will greet shareholders outside the meeting site – the Waukesha County Expo Center – to urge support for a union-sponsored resolution to exclude pension fund income in determining executive compensation and incentive pay.
IUE-CWA representatives also will address GE stockholders and management inside the meeting, stressing that the company's record profits aren't stopping it from closing a profitable power systems plant in Philadelphia later this year.
GE is ignoring its obligation to the workers and communities that have supported it throughout the years, IUE-CWA said, pointing out that less than half of the workers are eligible for a plant closing pension and just a third will receive full retiree medical coverage.
Including pension fund income in executive compensation formulas distorts the concept of pay for performance. Executives and senior management should focus on improving the business and not rely on pension income to boost the company's bottom line, IUE-CWA said.
GE's pension plan last year produced $2.1 billion in income, or 10.6 percent of overall company pre-tax earnings. "Earnings from the pension fund should be used to help retirees who built the company live in dignity, not to artificially inflate profits and boost the compensation of top executives," said IUE-CWA President Edward L. Fire.
A similar resolution will be considered by shareholders at IBM Corp.'s April 30 meeting in Louisville, Ky., where members of CWA Local 1701, Alliance@IBM, will express their concerns about the company to shareholders.
The union-sponsored measure will ensure that executives and senior management are held to the performance standards they have pledged to meet, not artificially boost their pay on the basis of pension fund income – generated by fund investments and accounting rules – that doesn't add any real income to the company, Guyer said.
Last year, IBM's pension fund earnings contributed 13.2 percent to the company's pre-tax earnings.
Shareholders also will consider a resolution calling on the board of directors to ensure that all employees have the same choice regarding their pension and retirement medical insurance as the company offered to those employees within five years of retirement in 1999, when IBM slashed retirement pay for some employees by as much as 50 percent and made extensive cuts in retiree health care.
IBM employees who are members of CWA Local 1701, Alliance@IBM, are seeking a voice in the decisions that affect their careers, their company and their future.
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Shareholders and employees are challenging the pay practices of two of America's biggest corporations – General Electric Co. and IBM Corp. – at annual meetings.
In Waukesha, Wis., on Wednesday, April 24, members of the International Union of Electronic Workers-Communications Workers of America and other CWA supporters are pressing GE to use its profits – a record $14.1 billion last year – to maintain quality jobs and ensure workers' retirement security.
Union members will greet shareholders outside the meeting site – the Waukesha County Expo Center – to urge support for a union-sponsored resolution to exclude pension fund income in determining executive compensation and incentive pay.
IUE-CWA representatives also will address GE stockholders and management inside the meeting, stressing that the company's record profits aren't stopping it from closing a profitable power systems plant in Philadelphia later this year.
GE is ignoring its obligation to the workers and communities that have supported it throughout the years, IUE-CWA said, pointing out that less than half of the workers are eligible for a plant closing pension and just a third will receive full retiree medical coverage.
Including pension fund income in executive compensation formulas distorts the concept of pay for performance. Executives and senior management should focus on improving the business and not rely on pension income to boost the company's bottom line, IUE-CWA said.
GE's pension plan last year produced $2.1 billion in income, or 10.6 percent of overall company pre-tax earnings. "Earnings from the pension fund should be used to help retirees who built the company live in dignity, not to artificially inflate profits and boost the compensation of top executives," said IUE-CWA President Edward L. Fire.
A similar resolution will be considered by shareholders at IBM Corp.'s April 30 meeting in Louisville, Ky., where members of CWA Local 1701, Alliance@IBM, will express their concerns about the company to shareholders.
The union-sponsored measure will ensure that executives and senior management are held to the performance standards they have pledged to meet, not artificially boost their pay on the basis of pension fund income – generated by fund investments and accounting rules – that doesn't add any real income to the company, Guyer said.
Last year, IBM's pension fund earnings contributed 13.2 percent to the company's pre-tax earnings.
Shareholders also will consider a resolution calling on the board of directors to ensure that all employees have the same choice regarding their pension and retirement medical insurance as the company offered to those employees within five years of retirement in 1999, when IBM slashed retirement pay for some employees by as much as 50 percent and made extensive cuts in retiree health care.
IBM employees who are members of CWA Local 1701, Alliance@IBM, are seeking a voice in the decisions that affect their careers, their company and their future.
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