Leading shareholders in Trinity Mirror are pressing the board to reduce the pay of its chief executive, Sly Bailey, reports the Financial Times.
They are demanding changes to her £1.7m pay package in order to avoid a showdown at the company's AGM next Thursday.
According to the FT, shareholders owning as much as a quarter of Trinity shares have threatened to vote against key board members as well as Bailey's pay.
One shareholder cited by the paper said: "There is a real head of steam building up and some investors are prepared to say publicly that they will vote against the board unless there is a change."
In early April, Trinity outlined a new pay package for Bailey, but this failed to satisfy investors.
And they have also rejected subsequent proposals by the board, believing that the cut should be more substantial.
They point out that Trinity's market capitalisation has fallen under her eight-year stewardship from £1.1bn to its current £80.2m. And the company hasn't paid a dividend since 2008.
The FT reports that shareholders are prepared to vote against the re-election of Jane Lighting, who chairs Trinity's remuneration committee.
And some may cast a protest vote against Sir Ian Gibson, the outgoing chairman. He is being replaced by David Grigson, a former finance chief at Reuters and publisher Emap.
Some of Trinity Mirror's pensioners are also concerned about the state of the pension scheme.
In March, pension trustees agreed to a cut in annual contributions so that the company can pay off £168m to US creditors over the next three years. Trinity's pension liabilities total £1.7bn.
My soundings within the publisher's London-based national newspapers - Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror and The People - suggest that staff morale is at rock bottom after a series of cutbacks and a general editorial budget squeeze.
Senior executives complain that they are unable to produce their papers as professionally as they would like. One said: "It's not so much that we aren't competing, we aren't even in the game any longer."
As with shareholders, there is also considerable anger at the level of Bailey's pay. A staff member told me: "We wouldn't mind what she earned if we were a successful company, but it's obvious we're not.
"She is being paid for failure. Meanwhile, people are losing their jobs and those, like me, who are still here, can't do ours properly."
[Full disclosure: I own 200 Trinity Mirror shares, which are trading at 32.5p today. I am also drawing a small pension from the company]
Source: Financial Times
