CLEVELAND, April 22 — Roughly 19 million shares (9.5% of voting shares) were cast in support of a Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET) shareholder proposal at the Union Pacific Corporation’s annual shareholders meeting in Salt Lake City last week.
The BLET proposal sought to replace executive stock options with restricted shares that vest over at least three years. The restricted shares would be awarded based on operational performance measures disclosed to shareholders, would yield no dividends or proxy voting rights before vesting, and must be retained for the executive’s tenure with the company.
“With rampant reports of operational problems, staffing shortages, remote control accidents at Union Pacific, the Board of Directors should be looking for ways to more closely link executive compensation with performance,” said Don Hahs, National President of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET), a Division of the Teamsters Rail Conference.
“BLET members have more at stake than most shareholders,” said Mack Hunt, the BLET member who presented the proposal at the shareholder meeting. “It is important we demand accountability from management.” Brother Hunt is a Union Pacific Engineer and serves the Brotherhood as Secretary-Treasurer of Division 713 in Salt Lake City.
In addition to the BLET’s proposal, shareholders had the opportunity to vote on another proposal introduced by the Laborers’ Union which called on the company to disclose political contributions.