Fluor Shareholders to Make Decision on Secret Proxy Voting

Fluor Corp. shareholders will have an opportunity at their annual meeting in March to decide whether the company will make proxy voting confidential.

The proposal was presented to the company by a shareholder who is also a member of an association that has targeted the Irvine-based company as one of the 50 worst offenders of shareholder rights in America.

United Shareholders Assn., founded in 1986 by T. Boone Pickens Jr., said in July that it would encourage people who hold stock in Fluor to campaign for passage of reforms at the company’s next annual meeting.

Fluor Corp. confirmed Tuesday that it has received a proposal for confidential proxy voting from shareholder Irving Kas.

In a statement released by United Shareholders, Kas said: “Confidential voting would guarantee Fluor’s shareholders the basic democratic right to vote their consciences without fear of management retribution.”

Fluor spokesperson Deborah Land said the proposal will be put before the shareholders for a vote. She said the company is determining whether confidential voting would carry any financial costs. If it does, she said, the company would recommend against it.