DENVER -- Angry shareholders on Tuesday blasted top management at Qwest, but the majority of them still voted not to limit executive compensation.

At the annual shareholder meeting held in Dublin, Ohio, and broadcast on the Web, Chief Executive Officer Joe Nacchio said that despite what stockholders may have heard or read, Qwest is "financially strong."

Then shareholders had their say. One said that after a nearly 90 percent drop in the stock's price, Nacchio is overpaid.

Another accused the board of directors of being too cozy with Nacchio and Qwest's largest stockholder, Colorado billionaire Phillip Anschutz.

And yet another shareholder said that investors, creditors, regulators, employees and pensioners have lost confidence and called for Nacchio to be fired "for cause."

Still, a majority of the company's shareholders voted in support of Nacchio, the board, and the way top management is compensated.

Retirees had put forth two proposals limiting executive compensation. Both failed.

One proposal would have required shareholders to approve severance packages for top executives. The second would have prohibited executive bonuses to be based in part on growth in value of the company's pension fund.

Both proposals needed at least 51 percent to pass.

The annual shareholder meeting was held at the company's Dublin offices, where there are about 2,000 employees .

But Denver is where Qwest is based and where it is the largest private employer.

The Association of US West Retirees, many of whom live in Colorado, had argued that the meeting was moved to escape angry shareholders who lost tens of thousands or more dollars from pension funds when Qwest stock fell from a high of $64 in March 2000 to its current level of about $5 a share. Qwest acquired US West in 2000.