Shareholder Proposals

I have a smattering of shares in some publicly traded companies, and in being a shareholder, I get the annual meeting information and get to “vote my shares” on topics that come before the board in the meeting.<br />n<br />nIt’s intersting to note that the proposals put forth by the Board of Directors certainly are recommended favorably by the Board. However, in all cases I’ve seen over the past couple of years, the Board recommends a vote <i>against</i> any proposals brought forth by shareholders themselves.<br />n<br />nTwo current cases in point are <a href=”http://ir.cokecce.com/” title=”CCE Investor Relations”>Coca Cola Enterprises</a> and <a href=”http://www.att.com/gen/landing-pages?pid=5718″ title=”ATT Investor Relations”>AT&T</a> (links to their investor relations sites). Each and every shareholder proposal is NOT supported by the board.<br />n<br />nWhat this unanimous set of recommendations tells me is that Boards of Directors are generall <i>against</i> Shareholders.