14 DAY TRIAL // The Laborers’ International Union of North America, or LIUNA, has announced plans to continue pushing Apple into disclosing a comprehensive CEO succession plan, citing one main goal - “[to] protect the retirement savings of the men and women who build America.”
Steve Jobs is on medical leave of absence amid growing concerns about his health. In a January 2011 letter, Jobs pledged that he would “continue as CEO and be involved in major strategic decisions for the company.”
A shareholders’ meeting held yesterday at Apple’s HQ ended with the refusal of most stock owners to have Apple reveal its strategy for CEO succession, in case Steve Jobs had to suddenly step off.
The reason? Apple believes that disclosing such plans would give competition “an unfair advantage,” perhaps even enticing them to offer the potential new CEO a job within their own organizations.
Shareholders sided with Apple on this theory, but not all of them. The proposal, offered by the Central Laborers’ Pension Fund, did not win majority support.
LIUNA notes that a large number of long-term, institutional shareholders voted in its favor.
“The men and women who invest in these plans do back-breaking work all day building this country – they deserve to have their retirement savings invested in stable, responsible companies,” said LIUNA General President Terry O’Sullivan.
“We’ll continue to demand Apple’s board behaves responsibly and does right by its shareholders. It’s good for the company, investors and the economy for Apple to demonstrate that it’s prepared,” O’Sullivan added.
Such proposals have been adopted by other big companies, LIUNA said. Those include Verizon, Comcast, Whole Foods, as well as several Fortune 500 companies, including Hewlett-Packard, Intel and American Express.
LIUNA added that the proposal in question also won the support of the country’s largest and most influential proxy voting service - the Institutional Shareholder Services.
Moreover, the union argues that said proposal did not ask for the names of potential CEO candidates.
Instead, the papers only imply that Apple would do well to “provide reassurance to shareholders that the company has a comprehensive plan for identifying internal candidates for the CEO position in the event of a planned or emergency vacancy,” LIUNA said in its February 23 report.
O’Sullivan concluded by saying, “We hope Apple’s board sees this vote and agrees to make changes that are good for the company and its shareholders. Otherwise, we’ll be back next year continuing the fight to protect our members’ retirement savings."