2024年改革Gilead公司董事会构架的股东年会提案
在“Gilead公司2022年股东会议的董事会改革提案”，我简述了自从2016年以来，自己开始关注世界上第二大生物制药公司Gilead/ㄍㄧㄌㄧㄚㄉ/吉利德 Sciences科学的治理问题[1]。在“Gilead公司2023年股东会议的董事会民主选举提案”，我介绍了自己的企业治理的新课题：美国公司董事会的架构改革。[2]
鉴于制药公司在美国社会生活中的重要地位，ㄍㄧㄌㄧㄚㄉ是在旧金山湾区唯一的超级制药公司，我必须继续关注其企业治理。2023年9月22日，我收到TD Ameritrade的股份证明后，向ㄍㄧㄌㄧㄚㄉ再次发出提案。这个提案相当于重复2022年5月4日我的提案，要求董事会成员包括一名普通员工代表。我指出非民主选举的美国董事会正在形成一个Aristotle/ㄚㄌㄧㄙㄊㄛㄊㄝㄌㄧ-ㄙ/亚里士多德定义的寡头阶层，与任何时代、任何国家的寡头阶层一样，成为动荡不安的各种社会问题的根源，必须改革。我的第6号提案得到63,589,287股（6.7%）赞同，多于5%，所以可以继续提案同一议题。
Stockholder Proposal on Board Structure Reform/关于董事会架构改革的股东提案
Resolved: stockholders recommend that Gilead Sciences, Inc. (the Company) reform the board structure to include one member of board of directors from the Company’s non-management employees. /决议：股东们提议ㄍㄧㄌㄧㄚㄉ科学公司（以下简称“本公司”）改革董事会结构，纳入一名来自本公司非管理人员为董事会成员。
Supporting Statement/支持提案的声明
There is a new trend pushing for non-management employee representation on boards, such as shareholder proposals to Amazon and other companies to include non-management employees on board. This is a common practice in Europe and the UK./有一种新趋势推动非管理层员工代表进入董事会，例如股东们向亚马逊和其他公司提案将非管理层员工纳入董事会。这是欧洲和英国的常见做法。
American corporate board structure needs reform now. For example, America’s ballooning executive compensation is neither responsible for the society nor sustainable for the economy. There is no rational methodology to decide the executive compensation, particularly there is no companywide union in the Company; there is no employee representation on boards; and the board is nominated and elected without any competition (the number of candidates is the same number of board seats). /美国公司董事会结构现在需要改革。例如，美国不断膨胀的高管薪酬对社会不负责任，也不利于经济的可持续发展。没有合理的方法来确定高管薪酬，特别是因为本公司没有全公司范围的工会、董事会中没有员工代表、董事会的提名和选举不存在任何竞争（候选人人数与董事会席位数相同）。
It is time for American executives as citizens to take the social responsibility on their own initiative rather than to be forced by the public. The board has the flexibility to design guidelines to select a candidate for the new board nominee from non-management employees. /现在是美国高管们作为公民主动、而不是被公众强迫承担社会责任的时候了。董事会可以灵活地设计指导方针，从非管理层员工中选择新董事会提名人选。
10月24日，公司的VP Legal and Assistant Secretary/法务副总裁兼助理秘书长和Sr. Associate General Counsel, Corporate Legal/企业法务总律师助理与我举行电话会谈。他们态度很认真地听取我的意见，希望我站在公司的角度如何达成现实的改进。我指出：制药公司的的员工们普遍具有很高的教育背景，很多人有硕士博士学位，从员工中选出一个代表进入董事会完全合格参与治理；如果暂时无法实现这一点，先在“报酬与资质委员会”等涉及员工直接利益的部门邀请员工代表和外部专家顾问们参与。根本的改善还有待于推动几个大制药公司召开“圆桌会议”达成共识，这需要艰苦的努力教育广大的股东，特别是机构股东，共同行动。
2024年2月26日，我接到公司的电邮，通知我公司确定把我的提案列为第5号付诸今年的股东年会表决，以及董事会的反对声明，内容如下：
【Our Board Recommends a Vote AGAINST This Proposal/我们的董事会建议投票反对该提案
Our Current Director Nominating and Evaluation Process Allows the Best and Most Qualified Candidates to be Elected to the Board/我们目前的董事提名和评估流程允许最优秀和最合格的候选人被选入董事会
Our Board believes the current director nominating and evaluation process allows the best and most qualified candidates to be elected to the Board. Changing our board nomination and membership framework as outlined by the proposal is unnecessary and would not be in the best interests of stockholders./我们的董事会认为，当前的董事提名和评估流程可以让最优秀、最合格的候选人当选为董事会成员。该提案中概述的改变董事会提名和成员框架是没有必要的，也不符合股东的最佳利益。
We also note that at our 2022 Annual Meeting, our stockholders rejected a substantially similar proposal, which received support from only 6.7% of the votes cast./我们还注意到，在 2022年年会上，我们的股东拒绝了一项实质上类似的提案，该提案仅获得 6.7% 的投票支持。
Our Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee is responsible for identifying and evaluating director candidates and recommending nominees for nomination by the full Board. In evaluating candidates for Board membership, our Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee undertakes a rigorous vetting process to ensure that candidates satisfy the membership criteria established by the Board. In particular, our Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee considers whether the candidate possess the following qualifications:/我们的“提名和企业治理委员会”负责确定和评估董事候选人，并推荐候选人供全体董事会提名。在评估董事会成员候选人时，我们的“提名和公司治理委员会”采取严格的审查程序以确保候选人满足董事会制定的成员资格标准。特别地，我们的“提名和企业治理委员会会”考虑候选人是否具备以下资格：
? the highest standards of personal and professional integrity;/最高的个人和职业诚信的标准；
? the ability and judgment to serve the long-term interest of our stockholders;/为股东的长期利益服务的能力和判断力；
? background, experience and expertise relevant to our business and that will contribute to the overall effectiveness and diversity of the Board;/与我们业务相关且有助于提高董事会整体效率和多元化的背景、经验和专长；
? broad business and social perspective;/广阔的商业和社会视野；
? the ability to communicate openly with other directors and to meaningfully and civilly participate in the Board’s decision-making process;/与其他董事开诚布公地沟通以及有意义且文雅地参与董事会决策过程的能力；
? commitment to serve on the Board for an extended period of time to ensure continuity and to develop knowledge about our business and willingness to devote appropriate time and effort to fulfilling the duties and responsibilities of a Board member;/承诺长期在董事会任职以确保连续性并加深对我们业务的了解，并愿意投入适当的时间和精力履行董事会成员的职责和责任；
? independence from any particular constituency; and/独立于任何特定选民；和
? the ability and willingness to objectively appraise the performance of management./客观评估管理层绩效的能力和意愿。
Our Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee reviews this Board membership criteria and assesses the composition of the Board against the criteria on an annual basis./ 我们的“提名和企业治理委员会”每年都会审查董事会成员资格标准并根据标准评估董事会的组成。
Additionally, in identifying potential director candidates, our Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee considers candidates recommended through a variety of methods and sources, including suggestions from current Board members, senior management, stockholders, professional search firms and other sources. Our Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee reviews all candidates, including any non-management employees, by the same criteria and standards, regardless of the source of the recommendation. The proposal, however, would require us to deviate from the rigor of our existing processes and undermine the role of our Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee and the Board in one of the most critical and strategic elements of corporate governance—the selection of director candidates—by subjecting non-management employees to different criteria and standards than all other director candidates./此外，在物色潜在董事候选人时，我们的“提名和企业治理委员会”会考虑通过各种方法和来源推荐的候选人，包括现任董事会成员们、高级管理层、股东们、专业猎头公司和其他来源的建议。我们的“提名和企业治理委员会”按照相同的标准和标准审查所有候选人，包括任何非管理职位的员工，无论推荐的来源如何。然而，该提案将要求我们偏离现有流程的严格性，让非管理职位的员工[选拔]遵守与所有其他董事候选人不同的准则和标准，削弱了我们的“提名和企业治理委员会”以及董事会在公司治理最关键和战略性要素之一--董事候选人的选择--中的作用。
An Independent Board is a Core Element of our Governance Philosophy/独立董事会是我们治理哲学的核心要素
Having an independent Board is a core element of our governance philosophy. Our Board Guidelines provide that a substantial majority of our directors must be independent. Except for our Chairman and CEO, all of our current directors are independent. Under Nasdaq listing standards, an employee director would not be considered independent, and adding such a director as called for by the proposal would decrease the percentage of directors that are considered independent./拥有独立的董事会是我们治理哲学的核心要素。我们的董事会准则规定绝大多数董事必须是独立的。除董事长和首席执行官外，现任所有董事均为独立董事。根据ㄋㄚㄙㄉㄚㄎ/纳斯达克上市标准，雇员董事不会被视为独立，而根据该提案的要求增加这样的董事将降低被视为独立的董事们的比例。
Gilead is Committed to a Culture that Values Employee Engagement/ㄍㄧㄌㄧㄚㄉ致力于营造重视员工参与度的文化
Gilead promotes a culture in which employees provide feedback on their experience and can raise their concerns outside their line management. As a result, employees have numerous ways to be heard and exert influence outside of board representation. In addition, we frequently consult employees about changes to various policies and benefits as part of our ambition of becoming the employer of choice in our industry. Our listening strategy helps to gather employee input and measure our progress. In late 2023, we conducted a global employee survey to gather and assess employee feedback and address areas of employee concern. Results showed that employee engagement is strong and higher since our last all-employee survey in 2021. For example, 84% of employees reported that they have confidence in Gilead’s future, and 81% of employees would recommend Gilead as a great place to work./ㄍㄧㄌㄧㄚㄉ提倡一种文化，让员工们就自己的经历提供反馈，并可以向直线管理层之外提出他们的担忧。因此，员工们可以通过多种方式表达意见并在董事会代表之外发挥影响。此外，我们经常就各种政策和福利的变化向员工们咨询，作为我们成为行业首选雇主的雄心的一部分。我们的倾听策略有助于收集员工们的意见并衡量我们的进展。2023年末，我们进行了一项全球员工调查，以收集和评估员工们反馈并解决员工们关注的领域。结果显示，自 2021 年我们上次进行全员工调查以来，员工们参与度强劲且更高。例如，84% 的员工们表示他们对ㄍㄧㄌㄧㄚㄉ的未来充满信心，81% 的员工会推荐ㄍㄧㄌㄧㄚㄉ作为一个理想的工作场所。】
ㄍㄧㄌㄧㄚㄉ董事会对我的提案的严肃认真回应是为了拉拢股东们投票反对我的提案，不值得专门反驳（反驳也没有进一步发表的公共空间），但毕竟也体现出企业治理的一些进步，这就是股东提案的最大价值。这个提案和董事会的反对声明是推动董事会框架改革的一份标准样本，值得被列入普通商学院和法学院的参考案例。
ㄍㄧㄌㄧㄚㄉ是我唯一关注其企业治理的制药公司，而美国的医疗/医药/健康保险是进入21世纪以来最大的社会经济政治矛盾。例如，我所在的California/ㄎㄚㄌㄧㄈㄛ-ㄋㄧㄚ州最大的医疗保险系统Kaiser Permanente也是全州最大的私营雇主，在州内有36个医院和5百多个办公室，为半数的州民提供医疗保险。去年10月，KP员工们为了提高待遇，趁着汽车行业和Hollywood/ハリウッド/ㄏㄛㄌㄧㄨ-ㄉ/好莱坞演员作家们的罢工浪潮，举行全美医疗行业历史上最大的罢工，有7.5万员工参加，包括ㄎㄚㄌㄧㄈㄛ-ㄋㄧㄚ州的6万员工，赢得了应该得到的待遇。我与在医院门外宣传罢工的员工交流过，他们基本上满意罢工的结果。但是，分配过程没有奇迹，KP董事会把提高员工待遇的代价悄悄地转到顾客患者们（半数州民）。前不久我因为食物过敏中毒，立即预约医生，发现竟然要等一个多月！只好去紧急部门就医，自付583美元（药费另算）。支付了高价的医疗保险后，得到的只是如此稀缺的医疗服务，其中的一个原因是（本来应该非盈利的）医疗保险系统以及非竞争的公共事业(煤气、电力等)企业（如PG&E）的高管们也向高科技公司的高管们看齐提高自己的收入，而企业治理中关键的董事会构架、成员资历、选举过程等非常缺乏民主的机制，在制度上形成了一个ㄚㄌㄧㄙㄊㄛㄊㄝㄌㄧ-ㄙ定义的危害社会秩序的寡头阶层。
改善美国企业治理事关经济平等、政治稳定和社会公正，急不可待，任重道远。
[赵京，中日美比较政策研究所，2024年2月26日]
[1]赵京，2022年5月4日。
[2]赵京，2023年5月3日。