Small Investors, Big Win (NAPSA)—In the 125-year-plus history of the Bell Telephone System, no proxy resolution opposed by company management had ever been approved by shareholders. In the annals of most public companies, few shareholder proposals are ever considered a serious threat to management'sironfist. But this year, retirees from Verizon led an investor revolt to curb bonuses and severance pay for executives. “For a little grassroots retiree organization to defeat the largest communications company in the world twice in one year is nothing short of Herculean,” says C. William Jones, executive director of the 95,000-member nonprofit Association of BellTel Retirees. Spurred by a deflated stock market, boardroom scandals and disdain with greedy CEOs, investors have managed to pass a record number of proxy resolutions this year. More than 125 have been passed, with the total likely to climb past 150. This is 50 percent more than last year, which itself was a record. The most stunning of victories in the history of retiree activism happened when the BellTel Retirees defeated the company by a large 59 to 41 percent margin. More than one billion shareholder votes demanded shareholder preapproval of executive golden parachutes that exceed three times the boss’ regular salary. Earlier in the year, BellTel gained its first proxy victory when Verizon’s board agreed to a @ In boardroom politics, sometimes the small investors can make big difference. proposal that almost passed in 2002, that halts the company’s executives from being enriched by profits from interest and growth of the retirees’ pension plan. Retirees had long argued executives should not personally benefit by withholding pension increases out of what is essentially a bank account the company holds in trust for many of its 200,000 retirees. Founded in 1996, BellTel Retirees became thefirst grassroots retiree organization in the nation to launch a proxy resolu- tion campaign against its former employer and nowisthefirst to claim victory in a landmark year for all shareholder advocates. To learn more about BellTel retiree activist campaigns visit www.belltelretirees.org or call 800-261-9222.
