Release Date: Apr 29, 2003
Greensboro, NC A majority of VF Corporation (NYSE: VFC) shareholders again voted in favor of a proposal to declassify the board of directors at the company's annual meeting on April 22. The measure passed with 57% of the yes-and-no votes cast.
"We hope the continued support for this common sense measure will finally spur VF's board to respect the will of its shareowners," said Melissa Moye, Chief Economist for Amalgamated's Trust and Investment Services Group. "By adopting this proposal, VF would demonstrate its commitment to fuller accountability to all shareholders."
Twenty-four percent of the shareholder voting power at VF is held by insiders and family trusts.
The shareholder proposal, brought by Amalgamated Bank's LongView Collective Investment Fund, urges the board to institute annual director elections. Under the current system of staggered elections, roughly a third of the directors face election each year.
This is the second year in a row that VF shareholders voted to adopt this proposal, which received 54% of the yes-and-no votes in 2002. Last year, the board of directors refused to take steps to implement the proposal.
"The voting of proxies is an important responsibility of the fiduciary act of managing plan assets," said Ron Luraschi, manager of Amalgamated Bank's Trust and Investment Services. "When a corporate board disregards the carefully deliberated votes of pension fund fiduciaries and other shareholders, it is working against the best interest of millions of American investors."
The LongView Collective Investment Fund is managed by Amalgamated Bank, which provides trustee, investment advisory and custodial services. Assets under management total $6 billion.
