Verizon investors get voice on pay

Verizon Communications Inc. said Thursday that it would hold a vote each year for investors to weigh in on executive pay, the second time a U.S. company has allowed such a measure.

The advisory vote will begin in 2009, New York-based Verizon said. Shareholders passed a proposal in May calling on the company to adopt such a measure.

Verizon, which paid Chief Executive Ivan Seidenberg $21.3 million last year, has been one of the main targets of labor groups seeking to rein in compensation. The AFL-CIO said Seidenberg didn’t deserve the pay he received from 2002 through 2006 because Verizon shares fell in that span.

“This is a victory,” said Dan Pedrotty, director of the office of investment at the AFL-CIO, the largest U.S. labor federation, based in Washington. “They should be commended for adopting it.”

Shares of Verizon, the second-biggest U.S. phone company, fell $1.33 to $44.74.