6-13-06, 8:53 am

With average annual compensation for CEOs now at $11.75 million, more and more shareholders are taking action to demand a voice in determining CEO pay packages—and demanding a voice in what The New York Times calls a “Soviet-style” election process in which shareholders have little involvement in determining corporate board directors. On Wednesday, union members and other concerned citizens will gather at the Countrywide Financial shareholder meeting in Calabasas, Calif., near Los Angeles to support an AFSCME proposal to give shareholders a say on pay—the right to an up or down vote on CEO compensation. Countrywide is the nation’s largest independent lender. Participants also will bring attention to Countrywide CEO Angelo Mozilo’s service on the Home Depot board of directors.

Mozilo skipped the Home Depot shareholder meeting last month, but earlier found time to award a $245 million pay package to Home Depot CEO Bob Nardelli while the company’s stock fell 12 percent. Mozillo is grossly overpaid himself, pulling in over $141 million last year.

Union members and other activists protested Nardelli’s pay package outside the Home Depot shareholders’ meeting May 25 in Wilmington, Del. Mozilo and other board members were too chicken to face them and didn’t show up.

If you’re in Los Angeles Wednesday, stop by the main entrance at 8:30 a.m. at 4500 Park Granada in Calabasas and see if Mozilo and Countrywide’s directors are too chicken to get out of the coop

blog.aflcio.org