- Rob Van Alstyne
President
- Larry Fritts
Vice President
- Brad Stephens
Treasurer
- Dave Letinch
Secretary
- Tom George
Director
- Don Guillot
Director
- Steve Pendergrass
Director
- Doug Kilgore
Exec.Director
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Who we are:
The Worker Owner Council (WOC) was formed in 2003, by a group of Northwest Building Trades to represent the ownership interests of union members participating in their pension funds. The Council's members include Northwest Affiliates of the Carpenters', Electrical Workers, Ironworkers', Laborers', Teamsters', Sheet Metal Workers and the United Association of Plumbers and Pipefitters. The Council monitors and advocates for improvements in corporate governance and community practices of companies held by Building Trades pension funds with a special emphasis on those with headquarters or significant operations in the Northwest. The Council's advocacy is driven by a worker-owner perspective on the corporation stressing long-term corporate value-building through business practices that are responsive to the full range of corporate constituents, including workers, customers, suppliers and communities- not just shareholders and managers.
What we do:
- Assist affiliated unions in monitoring their pension funds' investment in public corporations and in coordinating their shareholder advocacy in the Northwest.
- Engage companies publicly and privately in constructive dialogue aimed at improving corporate governance and executive pay practices.
- Establish and coordinate relationships and communication between member unions and public corporations in the Northwest.
- Research and publish our analysis of NW corporations' corporate governance and executive compensation practices.
- Monitor community practices of key Northwest companies.
- Facilitate and assist member unions and Northwest corporations in jointly solving problems of common concern.
Big Owners:
With over $200 Billion in collective assets under management, the pension funds of unionized construction workers are large institutional owners of public companies. Typically this collective ownership ranks Building Trades funds among the top 30 institutional owners of most large US corporations.
Active Owners:
Ownership confers upon pension trustees a responsibility to monitor their investment and to exercise voting power for best interest of beneficiaries. In addition, to actively voting shares, many Trades pension funds also initiate shareholder resolutions calling for improvements in corporate governance. These resolutions advance corporate reform and gather support from a broad range of shareholders. Issues of past or current focus include auditor independence, executive compensation reform, stock option expensing, and majority voting for corporate directors.
Worker-Owner Perspective:
As investors that are broadly invested in a full range of securities, and who live and work in the same communities where the corporations we own do business, our perspective differs from that of an individual shareholder focused on short-term price appreciation of particular stocks. We make a long-term investment in companies and have a long-term stake in the communities where they operate. This perspective sensitizes us to the notion that a company's prosperity depends not only on smart and nimble management but also upon the company's ability to bring success to its workers, suppliers and the communities in which they live. In addition we believe that the success of our investment is protected by the adoption of best corporate governance practices at all of the companies we own.
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