Ancora’s Proposed Directors and Management for Norfolk Southern Win Support from the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen Division of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters

Rhea-AI Summary

Ancora Holdings Group, , announced that its seven candidates for Norfolk Southern's Board of Directors have received support from the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen Division of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. This follows the endorsement from another labor union, BMWED Teamsters, representing about half of Norfolk Southern's unionized workforce. The proposed CEO and COO expressed gratitude for the support, emphasizing their commitment to enhancing performance, safety, and employee relations at the company.

 Following Engagement with Proposed CEO Jim Barber and Proposed COO Jamie Boychuk, BLET Teamsters Concludes Current Leadership Must Change

BLET Teamsters Becomes Second Labor Union in as Many Days to Express Support for the Full Shareholder Slate and its Proposed Management

Together with BMWED Teamsters, Supportive Unions Represent Approximately Half of Norfolk Southern’s Unionized Workforce

CLEVELAND--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Ohio-based Ancora Holdings Group, LLC (collectively with its affiliates, “Ancora” or “we”), which owns a large equity stake in Norfolk Southern Corporation (NYSE: NSC) (“Norfolk Southern” or the “Company”), today announced that its seven candidates (the “Shareholder Slate”) for election to the Company’s 13-member Board of Directors (the “Board”) have received support from the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen Division of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (“BLET Teamsters”). The BLET Teamsters represent locomotive engineers, conductors, brakemen, firemen, switchmen, hostlers and other train service employees at Norfolk Southern.

The BLET Teamsters is the second major labor union in as many days to support the Shareholder Slate and its management team, following the announcement of support from the BMWED Teamsters on April 25^th. The nominees have collectively expressed their gratitude to the union. Collectively, the BMWED Teamsters and the BLET Teamsters represent approximately half of Norfolk Southern’s unionized workforce.

Regarding the BLET Teamsters’ decision, proposed CEO Jim Barber stated:

“It’s a privilege to receive support from the BLET Teamsters, who believe in our plan to improve performance, safety and employee relations at Norfolk Southern. Jamie Boychuk and I had an extremely productive conversation with the Brotherhood about the issues the railroad faces today under current management. We look forward to the opportunity to collaborate with the BLET Teamsters to build a more efficient, safer and sustainable railroad.”

Proposed COO Jamie Boychuk added:

“Jim and I have deep respect for unions, having both spent a significant portion of our careers as union members – Jim at UPS and me at Canadian National Railway. We recognize the hard work that the BLET Teamsters members and all of the Company’s employees put in every day, and we’re excited about the opportunity to work alongside them to move Norfolk Southern forward.”

The 2024 Annual Meeting of Shareholders is scheduled for May 9, 2024. Shareholders of Norfolk Southern are advised to carefully read the proxy statements that are available at www.SEC.gov or www.MoveNSCForward.com. Questions can be directed to Ancora’s proxy solicitor, DF King, by calling 1-866-227-7300. The Board of Norfolk Southern has 13 members. Ancora has nominated seven candidates for the Board and is seeking a majority because it believes that is the least-disruptive, highest-certainty path to installing qualified management and implementing a PSR strategy, the same strategy that has led to substantial operational improvements at all other publicly-traded Class I Railroads.

***

About Ancora

Founded in 2003, Ancora Holdings Group, LLC offers integrated investment advisory, wealth management, retirement plan services and insurance solutions to individuals and institutions across the United States. The firm is a long-term supporter of union labor and has a history of working with union groups and public pension plans to deliver long-term value. Ancora’s comprehensive service offering is complemented by a dedicated team that has the breadth of expertise and operational structure of a global institution, with the responsiveness and flexibility of a boutique firm. For more information about Ancora, please visit https://ancora.net.

Advisors

Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP is serving as legal advisor, with Longacre Square Partners LLC serving as communications and strategy advisor and D.F. King & Co., Inc. serving as proxy solicitor.

CAUTIONARY STATEMENT REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

The information herein contains “forward-looking statements.” Specific forward-looking statements can be identified by the fact that they do not relate strictly to historical or current facts and include, without limitation, words such as “may,” “will,” “expects,” “intends,” “believes,” “anticipates,” “plans,” “estimates,” “projects,” “potential,” “targets,” “forecasts,” “seeks,” “could,” “should” or the negative of such terms or other variations on such terms or comparable terminology. Similarly, statements that describe our objectives, plans or goals are forward-looking. Forward-looking statements relate to future events or future performance and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors that may cause actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements or those of the industry to be materially different from those expressed or implied by any forward-looking statements. Norfolk Southern Corporation, a Virginia corporation (“Norfolk Southern”), has also identified additional risks relating to its business in its public filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”). Ancora Alternatives LLC (“Ancora Alternatives”), and as applicable the other participants in the proxy solicitation, have based these forward-looking statements on current expectations, assumptions, estimates, beliefs, and projections. While Ancora Alternatives and the other participants, as applicable, believe these expectations, assumptions, estimates, and projections are reasonable, such forward-looking statements are only predictions and involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties, many of which involve factors or circumstances that are beyond the participants’ control. There can be no assurance that any idea or assumption herein is, or will be proven, correct. If one or more of the risks or uncertainties materialize, or if the underlying assumptions of Ancora Alternatives or any of the other participants described herein prove to be incorrect, the actual results may vary materially from outcomes indicated by these statements. Accordingly, forward-looking statements should not be regarded as a representation by Ancora Alternatives that the future plans, estimates or expectations contemplated will ever be achieved. You should not rely upon forward-looking statements as a prediction of actual results and actual results may vary materially from what is expressed in or indicated by the forward-looking statements. Except to the extent required by applicable law, neither Ancora Alternatives nor any participant will undertake and specifically declines any obligation to disclose the results of any revisions that may be made to any projected results or forward-looking statements herein to reflect events or circumstances after the date of such projected results or statements or to reflect the occurrence of anticipated or unanticipated events.

Certain statements and information included herein have been sourced from third parties. Ancora Alternatives does not make any representations regarding the accuracy, completeness or timeliness of such third party statements or information. Except as may be expressly set forth herein, permission to cite such statements or information has neither been sought nor obtained from such third parties. Any such statements or information should not be viewed as an indication of support from such third parties for the views expressed herein.

CERTAIN INFORMATION CONCERNING THE PARTICIPANTS

The participants in the proxy solicitation are Ancora Catalyst Institutional, LP (“Ancora Catalyst Institutional”), Ancora Merlin Institutional, LP, (“Ancora Merlin Institutional”), Ancora Merlin, LP (“Ancora Merlin”), Ancora Catalyst, LP (“Ancora Catalyst”), Ancora Bellator Fund, LP (“Ancora Bellator”), Ancora Impact Fund LP Series AA (“Ancora Impact AA”) and Ancora Impact Fund LP Series BB (“Ancora Impact BB”) (each of which is a series fund within Ancora Impact Fund LP) (Ancora Catalyst Institutional, Ancora Merlin Institutional, Ancora Merlin, Ancora Catalyst, Ancora Bellator, Ancora Impact AA and Ancora Impact BB, collectively, the “Ancora Funds”), Ancora Advisors, LLC (“Ancora Advisors”), The Ancora Group LLC (“Ancora Group”), Ancora Family Wealth Advisors, LLC (“Ancora Family Wealth”), Inverness Holdings LLC (“Inverness Holdings”), Ancora Alternatives, Ancora Holdings Group, LLC (“Ancora Holdings”) and Frederick DiSanto (collectively, the “Ancora Parties”); and Betsy Atkins, James Barber, Jr., William Clyburn, Jr., Sameh Fahmy, John Kasich, Gilbert Lamphere and Allison Landry (the “Ancora Nominees” and, collectively with the Ancora Parties, the “Participants”).

Ancora Alternatives and the other Participants have filed a definitive proxy statement and accompanying BLUE proxy card (the “Definitive Proxy Statement”) with the SEC on March 26, 2024 to be used to solicit proxies for, among other matters, the election of its slate of director nominees at the 2024 annual meeting of shareholders of Norfolk Southern.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION AND WHERE TO FIND IT

ANCORA ALTERNATIVES STRONGLY ADVISES ALL SHAREHOLDERS OF NORFOLK SOUTHERN TO READ THE DEFINITIVE PROXY STATEMENT, ANY AMENDMENTS OR SUPPLEMENTS TO SUCH DEFINITIVE PROXY STATEMENT, AND OTHER PROXY MATERIALS FILED BY ANCORA ALTERNATIVES AS THEY CONTAIN IMPORTANT INFORMATION. SUCH PROXY MATERIALS ARE AVAILABLE AT NO CHARGE ON THE SEC’S WEBSITE AT WWW.SEC.GOV AND AT ANCORA ALTERNATIVE’S WEBSITE AT WWW.MOVENSCFORWARD.COM. THE DEFINITIVE PROXY STATEMENT AND ACCOMPANYING PROXY CARD WILL BE FURNISHED TO SOME OR ALL OF THE COMPANY’S SHAREHOLDERS. SHAREHOLDERS MAY ALSO DIRECT A REQUEST TO THE PARTICIPANTS’ PROXY SOLICITOR, D.F. KING & CO., INC., 48 WALL STREET, 22ND FLOOR, NEW YORK, NEW YORK 10005 (SHAREHOLDERS CAN CALL TOLL-FREE: +1 (866) 227-7300).

Information about the Participants and a description of their direct or indirect interests by security holdings or otherwise can be found in the Definitive Proxy Statement.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240426777338/en/

Longacre Square Partners

Greg Marose / Joe Germani, 646-386-0091

MoveNSCForward@longacresquare.com



D.F. King & Co., Inc.

Edward McCarthy

212-229-2634

MoveNSCForward@dfking.com

Source: Ancora Holdings Group, LLC

FAQ

Which labor unions have expressed support for the Shareholder Slate and its management team at Norfolk Southern?

The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen Division of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (BLET Teamsters) and the BMWED Teamsters have shown support for the Shareholder Slate and its management team at Norfolk Southern.

What percentage of Norfolk Southern's unionized workforce do the BLET Teamsters and BMWED Teamsters represent?

The BLET Teamsters and BMWED Teamsters collectively represent approximately half of Norfolk Southern's unionized workforce.

What did proposed CEO Jim Barber say about receiving support from the BLET Teamsters?

Proposed CEO Jim Barber expressed gratitude for the support from the BLET Teamsters and highlighted their shared vision to enhance performance, safety, and employee relations at Norfolk Southern.