http://law.marquette.edu/facultyblog/2008/11/19/unions-as-shareholders-use-bailout-to-push-executive-compenstion-reforms/

My labor and employment law colleague, Phoebe Williams, who also
teaches business associations, brings to my attention the roles unions,
as shareholders, are seeking to play in the current government bailout
scheme.

According to the Risk and Governance Blog:

The Laborers’ International Union of North America and
the International Brotherhood of Teamsters are filing new proposals
that seek compensation reforms at companies that participate in the
U.S. Treasury Department’s bailout program.

In the supporting statement for these 2009 resolutions, the labor
funds argue that the pay restrictions in the Treasury’s Troubled Asset
Relief Program (TARP) “fail to adequately address the serious
shortcomings of many executive compensation plans.” Instead, the unions
urge directors to adopt “more rigorous executive compensation reforms
that we believe will significantly improve the pay-for-performance
features of the Company’s plan and help restore investor confidence.”

According to the Associated Press, more than 110
financial firms have indicated that they likely will participate in the
TARP’s Capital Purchase Program, under which the government has so far
committed up to $250 billion to buy preferred stock. The labor funds
have filed this resolution at JPMorgan Chase, KeyCorp, Bank of America,
American Express, and SunTrust Banks, and plan to submit the proposal
at more than 45 other firms.

The proposal calls for directors to adopt the following reforms:

* Limit annual incentive compensation to an amount not exceeding one times the senior executive’s annual salary;

* Require that a majority of long-term compensation be awarded in the form of performance-vested equity instruments;

* Freeze new stock option awards to senior executives, unless the
options are indexed to peer group performance so that relative, not
absolute, future stock price improvements are rewarded;

* Require senior executives to hold for the full term of their
employment at least 75 percent of the shares of stock obtained through
equity awards;

* Prohibit accelerated vesting for all unvested equity awards held by senior executives;

* Limit all senior executive severance payments to an amount no greater than one times the executive’s annual salary; and

* Freeze the accrual of retirement benefits under any supplemental executive retirement plan (SERP) for senior executives.

The labor unions urge directors to adopt all of these reforms unless barred by existing executive employment agreements.

In short, the bailout has presented an opportunity for unions to
actively challenge excessive executive compensation. This is an example
of how unions through their roles as shareholders are seeking to
influence executive pay, voting for boards of directors, and other
corporate governance issues.

Cross posted at Workplace Prof Blog.