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Teamsters Local 1224 Shareholder Awareness Campaign a Success
May 13, 2008
(Wilmington, Ohio) - The shareholders of ABX Holdings, Inc., (Nasdaq: ABXA)
on Tuesday passed a resolution to force accountability and transparency on
poison pill provisions.
ABX management objected to the resolution.
“Today was a real victory for shareholders and members,” said Capt. David
Ross, President of Teamsters Local 1224, which represents the 650 pilots of ABX
Air, a subsidiary of ABX Holdings, Inc.
The shareholder resolution was submitted by the International Brotherhood of
Teamsters, of which Local 1224 is an affiliate. The resolution called for more
disclosure and accountability from the ABX Holdings board of directors. It
overturns an existing poison pill provision and prevents management from
adopting a new poison pill provision without a shareholder vote.
Poison pills can insulate management from acting in the best interest of
investors in the event of an acquisition offer.
The shareholder success at the standing-room only annual meeting today
follows a two-month shareholder awareness campaign by Teamsters Local 1224. That
campaign successfully questioned the viability of the company’s long-term
business strategy. It encouraged shareholders and other interested parties to
demand answers from ABX Holdings President and Chief Executive Officer Joe Hete.
“Many people stood up today and asked tough, serious, demanding questions of
ABX Holdings executives,” Ross said. “What was received in response was the
typical strategy of duck, deny, delay and blame. On each of the key questions
ABX Holdings executives either blamed their single largest client, DHL, or
unionized labor for the problems facing the company.”
The campaign included ads in the Wall Street Journal, Investor’s Business
Daily, major Ohio newspapers, and air cargo trade papers. Direct mailings to top
shareholders and an accompanying website,
www.askjoehete.com,
focused on crucial questions that the union felt shareholders needed to ask at
the annual meeting.
“While we were pleased that shareholders have forced the company to address
the critical area of poison pills, this is just the beginning of a call for more
accountability from the leadership of ABX Holdings to the shareholders and
employees of this company,” Ross said.
Founded in 1903, the Teamsters represent 1.4 million hardworking men and
women in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico.