Teamsters Land Majority Support for Director Election Reform at SkyWest

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International Brotherhood of Teamsters

May 04, 2011, 02:14 ET

WASHINGTON, May 4, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The International Brotherhood of Teamsters announced today that it secured nearly 78 percent of the shares cast in favor of the union's proposal to reform SkyWest's board of director elections. The proposal calls on SkyWest's board of directors to adopt a majority vote standard for director elections.

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The company's current plurality standard only requires a director to receive a single vote in uncontested elections to be seated on the board. A majority vote standard would require a director to receive a simple majority of the total shares cast in the election.

"SkyWest shareholders made it very clear – we want more accountability from our board of directors," said C. Thomas Keegel, Teamsters General Secretary-Treasurer. "More than 77 percent of the boards of the S&P 500 have already adopted a majority voting standard. SkyWest should respect the will of its shareholders and adopt a majority vote standard for director elections."

Over the past two years, SkyWest shareholders have expressed deep dissatisfaction with board members. With the exception of Michael Young, the entire board failed to receive support from 35 to 75 percent of the votes cast in the 2010 election. In fact, a majority of the votes were withheld for three of the four long-tenured directors, including Lead Director Steven F. Udvar-Hazy and J. Ralph Atkin, the uncle of Chairman and CEO Jerry C. Atkin. A majority of the votes were withheld for long-tenured director Ian M. Cummin and J. Ralph Atkin in the 2009 election. Yet, these directors were insulated by the company's plurality voting standard.

A majority of SkyWest voting shareholders yesterday also rejected the board's recommendation for a tri-annual say-on-pay vote. Investors instead voted for annual votes on executive compensation.

"SkyWest leadership has lost touch with its stakeholders," said Capt. David Bourne, Director of the Teamsters Airline Division, representing 75,000 aviation employees, including 1,600 aircraft maintenance workers at SkyWest subsidiaries Atlantic Southeast Airlines and ExpressJet. "SkyWest needs to open the lines of communication with investors, employees and customers to ensure a successful and sustainable future."

Founded in 1903, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters represents 1.4 million hardworking men and women in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico.

SOURCE International Brotherhood of Teamsters