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Attention:
News for USPA Communicators Labor
Day is nearly here, and we have lots of online tools, info and
resources available at our new Labor Day 2006 website (http://www.aflcio.org/laborday).
Download updated material from the Labor in the Pulpits site, read
Economic Policy Institute economist Jared Bernstein’s article on how
working families can take back There’s
more. Starting in the next two weeks, we’re launching a dynamic
Labor 2006 website, featuring an online voter registration tool,
state-by-state candidate comparison fliers, an interactive event
feature for get-out-the-vote activities and an online volunteer tool
to assist in critical Labor 2006 mobilization efforts. We’ll
give you links and more info as we launch our robust new Labor 2006
site. In
the meantime, here’s a quick reminder of other hot features
available at http://www.aflcio.org
Voting
Records--The 2006 Interim Congressional Voting Records now are
available for upcoming election campaigns, along with the AFL-CIO’s
interactive voting records feature that includes congressional voting
records back to 1996: http://www.aflcio.org/issues/legislativealert/ Facts
& Stats--The AFL-CIO’s dynamic database that enables you to find
the most up-to-date info available on working family issues--from jobs
to health care to pensions: http://www.aflcio.org/aboutus/enespanol/ En
Espanol--Our Spanish-language section offers information on unions,
political action, immigration and other key issues, including the
AFL-CIO’s recent partnership with the National Day Laborer
Organizing Network:http://www.aflcio.org/aboutus/enespanol/
Have
a great Labor Day and thank you for spreading the word to your members
about all the resources we offer at: www.aflcio.org. In
solidarity, P.S.
Another big thanks to you and your members for making AFL-CIO Now blog
a fantastic success! We’ve posted nearly 2,000 blog entries since we
launched in February, and it’s because of your many tips and
participation that have helped make AFL-CIO Now,
http://www.aflcio.org/blog, the place to go for information critical
to working families.
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Dear USW Members,
With the 2006 elections right around the corner, the AFL-CIO is gearing up for our biggest, most sophisticated and aggressive voter education and mobilization ever to help elect the candidates who will fight for and with working families. As a member of the Working Families e-Activist Network, you will be a valuable part of our campaign to win for working families in 2006. We’d like to know more about you and the issues you care about the most.Will you take just five minutes to fill out our Labor 2006 activist survey? Your feedback will help us improve our strategies between now and Election Day and help identify which activities and issues are most important to you—our base of supporters. Click here to take the survey now. Thank you for your help. In solidarity, Working Families e-Activist Network, AFL-CIO Visit the Web address below to tell your friends about this. If you received this message from a friend, you can sign up for Working Families e-Activist Network. |
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For a true picture of the vast inequities in the American workplace, try comparing the pay of your company's CEO with your own. Here are two ways to find out what's in your corporation's executive compensation packages: Executive PayWatch Database Compensation data for the CEOs of some of the largest companies in the United States are included here in the Executive PayWatch database. If you're looking for the executive pay data at a Standard & Poor's Super 1500 corporation, this database will lead you to the following information:
Check the database to see whether your company is listed. How to Track Down Executive Pay Does the CEO Deserve that Big Pay
Package? Terms & Methodology
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Mutual Funds
and CEO Pay
The growth of CEO pay and the mutual fund industry may not be a coincidence. Today’s mutual funds are some of the largest institutional investors, with more than $9 trillion in assets in the United States. Mutual fund assets have grown as many companies switched their pensions into 401(k) plans that use mutual funds. At the same time, today’s CEOs make 431 times the average worker’s pay.[1]
This conflict of interest stems from mutual fund firms’ desire to sell lucrative 401(k) management and other financial services to the same companies at which they vote proxies on behalf of mutual fund investors. A recent University of Michigan study documents that the more business a mutual fund family conducts with corporate pension plans, the more likely it will vote with management.[2]
Because of a new U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission rule that went into effect in 2004, mutual funds must now disclose their proxy votes to investors. The good news is America’s working families now have the right to know how their mutual funds are voting on their behalf on important corporate governance issues, including executive pay. The bad news is many mutual funds have been supporting runaway CEO pay.
According to a new report by AFSCME, a nationwide union for public employees, and The Corporate Library, many mutual fund companies have been enabling companies to offer extravagant CEO salaries. Perhaps, not surprisingly, the mutual fund family with the worst track record in the report, Morgan Stanley, also gave its former CEO William Purcell a controversial $44 million golden parachute.
As an individual investor concerned about executive pay, you can choose which mutual funds you invest your personal savings. However, 401(k) plan participants usually are limited to the mutual fund firm selected by their employer. If you participate in a 401(k) plan, consider urging your 401(k) plan trustees or Human Resources department to take proxy voting into consideration in the selection of your 401(k) plan’s mutual fund family.
Read
the full report, Enablers of Excess, Mutual Funds & the
Overpaid American CEO: How Morgan Stanley, AIM, Dreyfus, Alliance,
Oppenheimer and large mutual fund families are shirking their
responsibility and selling out shareholders. [1] Executive Excess 2005, Sarah Anderson and John Cavanagh, Institute for Policy Studies, Scott Klinger and Liz Stanton, United for a Fair Economy, Aug. 30, 2005. [2] “Would Mutual Funds Bite the Hand that Feeds Them? Business Ties and Proxy Voting,” Gerald F. Davis and E. Han Kim, University of Michigan Business School, Feb. 15, 2005.
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Tell-a-friend!
