“We witness the sorry spectacle of Gary Winnick, the CEO of Global Crossing, selling off $734 million in stock while urging his employees to buy more, and then using the money to purchase a $92 million dollar mansion in Bel Air.”
Uh, would this be the same Global Crossing that received millions in investment dollars from ULLICO, a union pension fund-owned insurance company with a board that included John Sweeney and numerous other union officials? A federal grand jury and the U.S. Dept. of Labor are now investigating insider stock trades that apparently enriched ULLICO board members at the expense of rank-and-file union members. While Sweeney claims not to have participated in the stock deals, he sat on the ULLICO board while others did.
“[W]e insist that the Securities and Exchange Commission and all three stock exchanges agree to a single higher standard for publicly-traded corporations. That standard must…prohibit CEOs from selling their company stock while they are in office.”
Oh. Would the Sweeney Standard apply to ULLICO board members, like Communications Workers president Morton Bahr and Carpenters president Doug McCarron? Reportedly, they and other Board members enjoyed trading privileges allowing them to profit from the purchase and sale of their own company’s stock. Because the privately held company’s stock price was reset each year based on its value on Jan. 1, the board members could anticipate the change before the new year. Barred from selling their ULLICO stock before its value was adjusted downward were the pension funds of rank-and-file workers.
Excerpts from John Sweeney’s speech at Wall Street Rally, July 30, 2002