Say-On-Pay Campaign On Executive Salaries Fizzles

May 6, 2008 8:23 p.m. EST

New York City, NY (AHN) - A campaign for more say among company shareholders on executive salaries appears to have fizzled out.

The first test case was at Aflac's yearly shareholders meeting held Monday. Stockholders of the large insurer approved without much question the pay packages for the top five executives of the company.

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 has failed to take off the ground include Citigroup, Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, Wachovia and U.S. Bancorp.

According to RiskMetrics Group, since Jan. 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.