The $860 million AFSCME Pension Plan, Washington, opposes the election of Apple Inc.’s entire slate of directors — including CEO Steven P. Jobs; former Vice President Albert A. Gore Jr.; and Eric E. Schmidt, chairman and CEO of Google Inc. — at the company’s annual meeting Feb. 25.
“It is our policy to vote against boards (directors) who do not implement shareholder votes which win majority support. The say-on-pay shareholder proposal won a majority at the annual meeting last year, and Apple has refused to implement it,” said Richard C. Ferlauto, director-pension and benefit investment policy at the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.
Last year, a say-on-pay proposal, sponsored by the AFL-CIO Reserve Fund, Washington, received 245 million votes in favor and 238 million votes against, according to an Apple report.
Shareholders will also vote on an AFSCME proposal calling for an annual non-binding vote on executive compensation similar to the one the reserve fund put up last year.
Apple’s board “does not believe that it is in the best interests of the company’s shareholders to provide for shareholder ratification of executive compensation,” according to its statement from the company.
