The union is a major shareholder, owing roughly $1.3 billion in company stock. They want shareholders to vote for executive pay to be capped. The CWA press release quotes Richard Hesterhagen, a striking Staten Island worker and shareholder: "Verizon's CEO [Lowell McAdam] makes 243 times more than the average worker, while customers in towns up and down the east-coast can't get the quality service the company promised them. Striking workers aren't just fighting to protect good middle-class jobs, we're fighting for a better Verizon that invests in communities, increases access to broadband and closes the digital divide. That's the vision this company needs, not the short-term payouts for executives that the current leadership is promoting." Last month, Lowell McAdam made an unannounced stop at picket line in DeWitt, where he told the workers he did not understand the strike and claimed he was unaware of the outsourcing that angered many of them.