(The Virginian-Pilot posted the following article by Carolyn Shapiro on its website on May 8. Hugh L. Sawyer Jr. is Legislative Representative of BLE Division 316 in Atlanta.)
NEW ORLEANS — The city known as The Big Easy sits at the southernmost tip of Norfolk Southern Corp.’s 21,500-mile system of railroad track.
New Orleans serves as a “gateway to the West” for the railroad, connecting it to six other rail lines, including Union Pacific and Burlington Northern Santa Fe — like Norfolk Southern among the top four U.S. rail companies. Norfolk Southern also operates a major auto distribution center in New Orleans, handling mostly Ford vehicles destined for dealerships.
This is where the company’s shareholders will gather today for their annual meeting. Stockholders will elect directors to the board, vote on one shareholder proposal regarding board members’ terms and hear an overview of the company’s 2002 performance.
Norfolk Southern has about 80 employees in New Orleans, compared with about 1,000 in the vicinity of its headquarters in Norfolk. In New Orleans, the railroad moves cargo such as liquor and Australian meat through its intermodal yard, where it transfers goods between rail cars and ocean containers or truck trailers. The rail company also serves nearby customers dealing in chemicals, packaged sugar products and vegetable oils at its Oliver Freight Yard.
“It illustrates the wide reach of our rail network,” Susan Terpay, a Norfolk Southern spokeswoman, said of the choice of New Orleans as the site of this year’s meeting.
The three directors up for election all sit on the board, including Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer David R. Goode. At the end of last year, the board reduced the number of directors from 10 to nine. They are divided into classes, each representing a third and serving staggered three-year terms, so only three directors are up for re-election at once.
Hugh L. Sawyer Jr., a shareholder and Norfolk Southern locomotive engineer based in Atlanta, has proposed to dismantle the board’s class system and put each member up for re-election annually. In the company’s proxy statement released in March, Sawyer presented his proposal as a way to make the board more accountable to shareholders.
The board of directors opposes the proposal, saying the class system provides a level of experience on the board at all times and gives directors a long-term stake in the management of the company. Also, staggered terms help the board protect stockholders in a takeover situation, the directors argued in the proxy.