NEW YORK (AP) - A union investment group Thursday called for the resignation of Countrywide Financial Corp.'s lead director.
The same organization, CtW Investment Group, last month also called for the resignation of Countrywide CEO Angelo Mozilo.
CtW is affiliated with the Change To Win federation of unions, including the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Service Employees International Union and UNITE HERE.
The group said the divestment by Countrywide lead director Harley Snyder of 77 percent of his own Countrywide holdings beginning in 2006 and the recent extensions of stock options granted to eight senior company executives 'reinforces concerns that you are incapable of providing the independent leadership Countrywide so desperately needs.'
In a letter addressed to Snyder, the group said he had a central role in creating compensation policies at Countrywide that 'fail to align executive and shareholder interests,' pointing to Wall Street Journal figures ranking Mozilo's $120 million 2006 compensation as the largest of any Standard & Poor's 500 financial company.
The group called the company's extension of options a 'pay-for-failure scheme' and added that the company's director compensation, which they say ranged from $344,988 to $538,824, was both unjustified and 'a likely source of the board's passivity in the face of the company's current crisis.'
A message was left for Countrywide representatives asking for comment.
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