For the second consecutive year, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees pension fund is urging shareholders to vote against ratifying an executive compensation proposal for Johnson & Johnson. Once again, the issue is the amount of money given to outgoing ceo Bill Weldon in light of several scandals involving manufacturing gaffes, product recalls and government probes.The move comes after roughly 40 percent of J&J shareholders last year voted against a so-called Say on Pay proposal. Since then, J&J attempted to revamp its compensation calculations, but AFSCME – which is a beneficial owner of 19,868 J&J shares – maintains that J&J pay practices continue to result in excessive compensation that is not tied to performance and is also out of whack when comparisons are made.
For instance, over a recent one-year period, AFSCME charges Weldon’s target pay ranked third in total shareholder return versus a group of peers selected by J&J that ranked eighth. Over a three-year time span, Weldon’s target pay ranked fourth, but J&J ranked ninth in total shareholder return. And his five-year target pay ranks above J&J peers, but total shareholder return ranks below its peers.
What exactly did Weldon receive? His 2011 pay totaled nearly $27 million, down from $28.7 million the year before, including a $3.1 million bonus, which amounted to a 55 percent increase from 2010 [see this]. Meanwhile, AFSCME charges that expenses associated with numerous recalls and product liability litigation – notably, the Risperdal antipsychotic and DePuy hip implants – helped shave consolidated earnings by $4.5 billion…
This is good news. Shareholders do have responsibility for more than just picking up their dividends.