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An activist group of Verizon retirees will set the issue of executive pay before the corporation's board of directors this morning at the company's annual meeting Downtown.

The Association of BellTel Retirees Inc. wants Verizon Communications Corp. to allow its shareholders to vote each year on compensation packages for Chairman Ivan Seidenberg -- who earned $21.3 million in 2006 -- and other top executives.

"I would think an advisory vote like this would be a plus for Verizon," said BellTel's president, C. William Jones. "The company would be more likely to inform shareholders and the investment community about its strategy and objectives each year, so that everyone can understand whether or not they are being met.

"I'm all for disclosure."

Verizon's management has urged shareholders to vote against the proposal. A company spokesman defended Seidenberg's compensation as comparable to that of executives of similar-sized companies.

The concept of non-binding shareholder votes on pay packages each year has been gaining favor across the nation.

"Say on pay" ballot questions have cropped up at a number of corporate annual meetings. The U.S. House of Representatives last month approved a bill allowing pay votes, though Senate action is uncertain.

"All executive pay is under more scrutiny now," said Bill Coleman, senior vice president of compensation for Salary.com. As more companies tackle advisory vote questions, even more will catch on to the idea.

One argument against the votes is that shareholders aren't privy to all the details of an executive's worth, Coleman said.

Still, "Those same people are voting on other issues. They vote on incentive plans, and who the auditor should be -- and your average investor is not going to know whether Deloitte or PriceWaterhouseCoopers is the better choice," he said.

Jones plans to address the board from the floor at today's meeting, pointing out that while some retirees must choose whether to go to the doctor or buy groceries because of pension freezes, top Verizon executives are deciding how to spend their big pay packages. Two other top Verizon executives earned more than $11 million each.

Institutional Shareholder Services Inc., a proxy advisory firm, supports the move for say-on-pay votes at Verizon, noting that the United Kingdom, Sweden and Australia have adopted the requirements.

Jones worked for 30 years for New York Telephone and successor companies before retiring in 1990 as managing director of corporate planning.

"We know Verizon has a long-term strategy," he said, referring to the company's ongoing, $22 billion investment in a fiber-optic network for television, Internet and voice services. "I am not disagreeing, but when you look at the numbers that come out, it doesn't look too spiffy, does it?"

The BellTel group cites 2001-05 data from the Corporate Library that Verizon's shareholder return totaled a negative 26.8 percent, while Seidenberg's compensation topped $75 million.

Verizon last week reported first-quarter earnings that were 8.4 percent lower than a year ago.

The BellTel group claims to represent 100,000 retirees from Verizon and predecessor companies such as Bell and Nynex, and owns about $6,000 worth of Verizon stock. It has been putting proposals before shareholders for 10 years, Jones said, and among its victories was the board's acceptance of steps to limit executive severance, or golden parachutes.

This year, the group is proposing new limits on the number of corporate boards on which Verizon directors can serve. Verizon spokesman Bob Varettoni said the company's policy is consistent with, or tougher than those at other companies.

The Pension Rights Center, a consumer organization in Washington, has watched corporate retirees' activist efforts gain momentum, particularly at telecommunications companies, spokeswoman Nancy Hwa said.

They put ballot questions into corporate proxies that are sent to all shareholders for action at annual meetings, she said, and some hold protests and file lawsuits over retirees' issues.

Benefit cuts spurred many of the efforts, "especially when healthy companies like Verizon are freezing their pensions and giving out multimillion-dollar executive compensation packages," Hwa said.

Varettoni said Verizon shareholders unhappy over top officers' pay packages can contact the head of the board committee that sets the rate.

Today's meeting is scheduled to start at 10:30 a.m. at the Westin Convention Center Hotel, Downtown.

Some of the 974 BellTel group members in Western Pennsylvania are expected to attend along with as many as 600 members of AFL-CIO unions that support the retirees' "say on pay" initiative.

The corporation and its Verizon Wireless venture employ about 4,000 in the region.

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