Unions continue push for 'say on pay,' plan protests for UAL meeting

A coalition of unions Tuesday continued to blast the parent of United Airlines for executive compensation packages and urged shareholders to support a "say on executive pay" proposal at next week's annual meeting.

The Union Coalition, which represents six unions and with about 48,900 United workers, has issued its third statement and did a direct mailing to UAL Corp. shareholders in recent weeks to help sway voters.

Chicago-based UAL doesn't support the proposal and believes its executives have been performing in the best interest of the company, said UAL spokeswoman Megan McCarthy.

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"Our executive compensation is market-based, on-par with other comparably sized companies, and most importantly, 91 percent of it is at risk and tied to our stock performance," said McCarthy. "It's clearly in our shareholders' best interest to have a compensation plan that is tied to the performance of our stock, and attracts and retains talented executives."

United, which has operations in Elk Grove Township, will hold its annual shareholder meeting June 12 in Woodland Hills, Calif., and the unions are set to hold protests outside, just as they did last year in Chicago.

"It will be more attention grabbing," said United's Association of Flight Attendants spokeswoman Sara Nelson. The flight attendants union is part of the coalition.

The coalition said in a joint statement Tuesday that UAL's top executives, including CEO Glenn Tilton had received "excessive" compensation packages while United's performance dwindled. They said a "say on pay" proposal is common with European companies and should be supported here.

"Flight attendants and others workers have suffered over the last six years under draconian cuts from the bankruptcy while executives awarded themselves over and over again," said Nelson. "Meanwhile, they have made failing decisions for United Airlines. This proposal gives shareholders a chance to say what the executives will be paid. Customers and shareholders alike have been suffering too long with the poor decisions of this management."

Besides the flight attendants, the Union Coalition includes the Air Line Pilots Association, the International Association of Machinists Aerospace Workers, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, the Professional Airline Flight Control Association and the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers.