CHESHUNT, England — A shareholder campaign protesting the executive pay at Tesco here failed to garner a majority of votes, the company said at its annual meeting on Friday.
Preliminary results showed that 38% of shareholders cast their votes against the executive remuneration plan, Tesco said, meaning that the pay plan would be approved. CtW Investment Group, a Tesco shareholder affiliated with the Change to Win union coalition, had campaigned against the pay package, citing in particular the pay of Tim Mason, who heads Tesco's Fresh & Easy banner in the U.S.
The United Food and Commercial Workers union has been critical of Fresh & Easy, which is not unionized and has been losing money since its launch in 2007.
"The extraordinary opposition vote reflects investor outrage over the excessive pay awarded to Tim Mason, Tesco's second highest paid executive, despite the dismal performance of the U.S. Fresh & Easy business he oversees," said Michael Garland, director of value strategies for the CtW Investment Group, in a prepared statement.
David Reid, Tesco chairman, was quoted in an Associated Press report as saying that losses were anticipated at Fresh & Easy.
"In almost every country, you incur losses in the first three years. This is nothing unusual," he said.
