Labor unions vs. Wall Street

July 21, 2008 | By Jim Kim

Labor unions have stepped up on a lot of shareholder-interest issues over the past few years. We're now seeing them pressing top banks in several areas. The latest: The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees has renewed its call for Citi to break itself up, the Financial Times reports. Of course Citi CEO Vikram Pandit has already nixed the idea. And it's unlikely the union will prevail. But if Pandit's turnaround plans do not work out, we'll likely hear about it from labor first. While unions have been stepping up their campaigns against Wall Street firms, other shareholders have been a lot less aggressive than one might guess, given the carnage. We've had a lot of pointed questions at annual meetings, but few directors have paid any sort of meaningful price. That said, it wouldn't be surprising to see some board tinkering by more companies. Washington Mutual is one example.

For more:
- here's an article on Citi