awa ha Tapping Into The Strength Of Shareholders (NAPSA)—There’s strength in numbers, as one corporation’s proxy resolution recently proved. The proposal, submitted by members of the Association of BellTel Retirees Inc., sought to stop Verizon’s executives from benefiting financially from the growth of pretax pension credits within the company’s retiree pension plan. Rather than face possible defeat by its own retirees, Verizon Communications executives agreed to no longer base the amount of their bonuses on projections of income generated by the retiree pension fund (valued at $39 billion at the end of 2002). By doing away with this practice, the company will start giving executives bonuses that are more in line with their true value to the corporation. In 2001, Verizon would have reported a material net loss had it not included $1.85 billion in pension incomein its calculations of reported earnings, instead of the gainsit did report. Retirees, many of whom are shareholders, had long felt that this change could give the executives less incentive to hoard the surplus from the pension fund, and could encourage management to use the surplus for its intended purpose, such as paying benefits and cost-of-living adjustments to retirees. By joining together, one com- pany’s retirees have changed the company’s financial practices. In 1998, BellTel Retirees becamethe first grassroots retiree organization in the nation to launch a proxy resolution campaign against its former employer. Beyondits pension credits victory, the retirees have two other proposals this year aimed at requiring Verizon to have a majority of independent directors on its board, and a second to require shareholders to authorize executive severance agreements (“golden parachutes”). The Association of BellTel Retirees, now 90,000 members strong, was formed in 1996 to advocate for retiree pension and benefit rights. To learn more, visit the Web site at www.belltelretirees.org or call (800) 261-9222.
