History, Special Deals Highlight Unsympathetic Targets

"The IAM is proud to take its historic role of fighting for justice on the job and service to the community into the realm of corporate governance," said R. Thomas Buffenbarger (right), the IAM's International President.

IAM representatives will attend Raytheon Corporation's annual shareholders' meeting in Lexington (MA) on April 23, and offer a proposal directing that certain severance packages for senior executives can be approved only by a shareholder vote.

Next, on April 24, the IAM and the AFL-CIO will join forces for a rally opposing former Enron Corporation executive Frank Savage's re-nomination to the Board of Directors at Lockheed Martin. The Savage bid is expected to spark lively debate at Lockheed's shareholder meeting, slated for Dayton (OH).

Union representatives point to mounting evidence that Savage and Enron's board of directors "failed to exercise sufficient oversight and restraint" to curb management excess at that troubled corporation. Gross mismanagement at Enron sent the corporation into bankruptcy and erased millions of dollars Enron workers (and others) relied on for their retirement security.

On April 28, the IAM takes its case to Chicago, where Boeing Corporation holds its shareholders' meetings. There the union plans to speak out against supplemental executive retirement plans (SERPs) for senior executives. Boeing's top executives are in line for lavish retirement benefits at the same time the company is laying off thousands of working men and women.

FMI: www.iamaw.org