Shareholders At Aflac Fail To Question Executive Pay Package As Revolt Fizzles

New York, NY (AHN) - A campaign to give shareholders a larger voice in determining executive salaries appears to have fizzled out. The first test case was at Aflac's yearly shareholder's meeting held Monday. Stockholders of the insurance giant approved pay packages for the top 5 executives without many questions.

The campaign gained full steam half a year ago when the economic slump started to be felt and belts had to be tightened. Eyes of ordinary workers and small stockholders shifted to hefty executive pay packages, while everyone else had to cut corners.

Since the start of the year, two other companies appeared to be on the verge of granting their stakeholders more voice in deciding executive salaries. But in the end, Apple and Lexmark International declined to grant its shareholders the extra voice.

Other large U.S. companies where the proposal had failed to take off the ground included Citigroup, Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, Wachovia and U.S. Bancorp.

According to RiskMetrics Group, since January 30 say-on-pay proposals have been subject to voting, but only 42 percent supported the need to have a say on executive pay.

Shirley Westscott, managing director of Proxy Governance, expressed surprise at the cold reception to the say-on-pay campaign. "What surprises me is that after they were introduced last year and got such high average support, they weren't more successful this year," Westscott told USA Today.