Boeing Co., Chicago, is asking the SEC to let it exclude a shareholder proposal from its 2003 proxy statement relating to its cash balance pension plan. The proposal, which did not pass last year, asks the company to give all employees who were vested in the pension plan upon conversion the choice of staying in the traditional $31 billion pension plan or switching to the new plan. The proposal also seeks to ensure the cash balance plan gives retirees a monthly pension equal to what they would have received under the old plan, or an actuarially equivalent lump sum.
The proposal received 52 million votes from Boeing shareholders last year.
