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IBM Employees, Shareholders Challenge Executive Pay Practices
Shareholders and employees are challenging the executive pay practices and job cutting tactics now in force at IBM Corp.
In Louisville, Ky., on Tuesday, April 30, members of the Communications Workers of America Local 1701, Alliance@IBM and other supporters will alert shareholders about some serious concerns at the company.
The annual meeting gets underway at 10 a.m. at the Kentucky International Convention Center. Union members will greet shareholders outside the convention center beginning at 8:30 a.m., then will hold a public rally after the meeting has concluded, at about 11:30 a.m.
The IBM employees are asking shareholders to support a proposal that would exclude pension fund income from the calculation of executive bonuses and other performance-based compensation.
Including pension fund income in executive compensation formulas, as IBM does, 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, CWA said.
IBM's pension plan last year produced $904 million in income, or 13.2 percent of overall company pre-tax earnings. "Earnings from the pension fund should be used to benefit retirees who worked for IBM's success, not to artificially inflate profits and boost the compensation of top executives," said CWA Local 1701 President Linda Guyer.
The measure will ensure that executives and senior management are held to the performance standards they have pledged to meet, Guyer added.
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 also are protesting management's shortsighted and widespread job cuts, or "work force re-balancing," as a company spokesperson called it, that is eliminating the jobs of experienced and trained employees nationwide while retaining recent college hires and hiring temps as replacements. This will harm IBM's ability to compete in the future.
Many longtime employees have received layoff notices, despite good performance reviews and with no fair and consistent system for determining layoffs or the opportunity for recall rights, CWA said.
That's just one of the reasons that IBM employees, now members of CWA Local 1701, Alliance@IBM, have been organizing for a voice in the decisions that affect their careers, their company and their future.
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To contact IBM employees attending the shareholder meeting, call Candice Johnson, CWA Communications, 202-434-1168, particularly for interviews on April 30; she can arrange interviews with IBM employees at the event. Lee Conrad or Linda Guyer also can be reached at the Springhill Suites by Marriott, 502-326-3895.
In Louisville, Ky., on Tuesday, April 30, members of the Communications Workers of America Local 1701, Alliance@IBM and other supporters will alert shareholders about some serious concerns at the company.
The annual meeting gets underway at 10 a.m. at the Kentucky International Convention Center. Union members will greet shareholders outside the convention center beginning at 8:30 a.m., then will hold a public rally after the meeting has concluded, at about 11:30 a.m.
The IBM employees are asking shareholders to support a proposal that would exclude pension fund income from the calculation of executive bonuses and other performance-based compensation.
Including pension fund income in executive compensation formulas, as IBM does, 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, CWA said.
IBM's pension plan last year produced $904 million in income, or 13.2 percent of overall company pre-tax earnings. "Earnings from the pension fund should be used to benefit retirees who worked for IBM's success, not to artificially inflate profits and boost the compensation of top executives," said CWA Local 1701 President Linda Guyer.
The measure will ensure that executives and senior management are held to the performance standards they have pledged to meet, Guyer added.
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 also are protesting management's shortsighted and widespread job cuts, or "work force re-balancing," as a company spokesperson called it, that is eliminating the jobs of experienced and trained employees nationwide while retaining recent college hires and hiring temps as replacements. This will harm IBM's ability to compete in the future.
Many longtime employees have received layoff notices, despite good performance reviews and with no fair and consistent system for determining layoffs or the opportunity for recall rights, CWA said.
That's just one of the reasons that IBM employees, now members of CWA Local 1701, Alliance@IBM, have been organizing for a voice in the decisions that affect their careers, their company and their future.
###
To contact IBM employees attending the shareholder meeting, call Candice Johnson, CWA Communications, 202-434-1168, particularly for interviews on April 30; she can arrange interviews with IBM employees at the event. Lee Conrad or Linda Guyer also can be reached at the Springhill Suites by Marriott, 502-326-3895.