Teamsters Win Victory for Sysco Shareholders

Teamsters Win Victory for Sysco Shareholders

For Second Year, Stockholders Approve Proposal to Declassify Sysco Board

November 8, 2002

(Washington. DC) – The International Brotherhood of Teamsters General Fund, an institutional investor in the Sysco Corporation [NYSE: SYY], today won for a second year a critical vote at the company’s annual shareholder meeting in Houston, Texas.

A majority of the shares voting supported the Teamsters’ proposal to eliminate staggered terms for members of the company’s board and, instead, to have all members of the board stand for election at the same time. The Teamsters proposal called for declassification of the board. In corporate jargon, the Teamsters proposed to “declassify” the board.

“When corporate boards have staggered terms they are less responsive to their shareholders,” said Louis Malizia, Assistant Director of the Teamsters Corporate Affairs Department. “Annual elections allow shareholders to react quickly to changes in the market.”

Malizia urged Sysco’s board of directors to quickly take action on the election victory and to respond to the shareholders’ directive to declassify.

“In the present corporate environment, shareholders have good reason to demand greater control,” Malizia said. “Shareholders said they wanted this board declassified last year. They underscored that message with their vote today.”

Founded in 1903, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters represents more than 1.4 million hardworking men and women throughout the United States and Canada.