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Union leader confronts president; board of directors re-elected at annual meeting
By Betty Lin-Fisher
Beacon Journal business writer
Published on Wednesday, May 21, 2008
FirstEnergy Corp. shareholders on Tuesday passed two company-sponsored proposals and a majority voted in favor of three of four shareholder proposals at the company's annual meeting.
But the meeting, in which President and Chief Executive Anthony Alexander highlighted the company's strong financial performance for 2007, was briefly overshadowed during a question-and-answer period by the president of a labor union asking Alexander why the company would not bargain with its members.
Herman Marshman Jr., president of IBEW Local 272, which represents about 380 workers at FirstEnergy's Bruce Mansfield Plant in western Pennsylvania, asked Alexander how he proposed addressing problems between management and unions in the company. Alexander said he spends a lot of time with employees and felt that overall, the company had been making good progress.
When Marshman followed up by asking why the electric utility was refusing to bargain in good faith, Alexander said the company was bargaining, and he responded to a third question from Marshman by saying the annual meeting wasn't the place to discuss negotiations.
A few questions later, a retired Cleveland teacher andFirstEnergy shareholder, Dave Ulatowski, said: ''I want to know about negotiations. I want to know why we're not treating our employees well. Let's talk about it.'' Alexander said he was not going to discuss negotiations at the annual meeting.
After the meeting, Marshman said the company is not willing to discuss benefits or entertain counterproposals about benefits, saying any benefits must be a corporatewide issue. Marshman also said the average retiree from the Mansfield plant pays more for health care than a current employee does. The contract expired on Feb. 15 and a federal mediator has been involved since Feb. 22.
Spokesman Ralph DiNicola said the company cannot offer something to one union that is not offered to all employees.
DiNicola also said he hoped the actions of a few at the annual meeting would not overshadow the company's ''fabulous year.''
In his remarks, Alexander said the first-quarter earnings guidance was exceeded and the company's stock price hit a high of $79.02 per share on May 2. Over the last five years, the transmission system has experienced, on average, 41 percent fewer outages than the rest of the industry. In the past two years, the company has cut the average annual duration of outages by 60 minutes, or 31 percent.
Here's how the shareholders voted on the proposals (shareholder proposals are not binding):
• Election of board of directors: All 11 directors were re-elected. The following percentages voted in favor of the directors: Paul T. Addison, Alexander, Wes M. Taylor, Michael J. Anderson, Robert B. Heisler Jr., Ernest J. Novak Jr. and Catherine A. Rein, 64 percent; William T. Cottle, 53 percent; and Carol A. Cartwright, George M. Smart and Jesse T. Williams Sr., 52 percent.
• PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP: It was ratified as the company's independent registered public accounting firm with 99 percent of the vote.
• Proposal to reduce the percentage of shareholders required to call a special shareholder meeting: This received a majority of the votes, with 67 percent in favor and 33 percent against. Two percent abstaining.
• A request for an engagement process with proponents of shareholder proposals that are supported by the majority of votes cast at an annual meeting: This had 42 percent voting yes and 58 voting no. Two percent abstained.
• A request to adopt a simple-majority vote. This proposal won 79 percent of the vote, with 21 percent against. Two percent abstained. The ''yes'' vote was up from 76 percent in 2007.
• Adoption of a majority vote standard for the election of directors: This won 72 percent of the vote, with 28 percent voting no. Two percent abstained.
John Chevedden of Los Angeles, who submitted the proposal for the simple majority vote on behalf of his family's trust, said FirstEnergy's directors have repeatedly ignored shareholder proposals that win a majority vote. (Management proposals that change the way the company operates require 80 percent of all shareholder votes to pass.)
''FirstEnergy is one of the most recalcitrant companies. Other companies, when they get this message, they make their own proposals,'' he said.
Betty Lin-Fisher can be reached at
330-996-3724 or blinfisher@
thebeaconjournal.com.
FirstEnergy Corp. shareholders on Tuesday passed two company-sponsored proposals and a majority voted in favor of three of four shareholder proposals at the company's annual meeting.
Get the full article here.
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