American Axle CEO gets compensation of $5.55M, excluding bonus (wants to cut workers pay in 1/2)

[Omaha Steve]

Wants to cut workers from $28 down to $14 per hour.

http://www.mlive.com/newsflash/michigan/index.ssf?/base/news-52/1206392980287060.xml&storylist=newsmichigan

3/24/2008, 4:57 p.m. EDT
By TOM KRISHER
The Associated Press

DETROIT (AP) — American Axle and Manufacturing Holdings Inc. Chairman and CEO Richard Dauch received compensation valued at $5.55 million for leading the auto parts supplier last year, but he could make considerably more once his bonus is calculated, according to a regulatory filing made Monday.

Most of Dauch's pay was stock and options worth roughly $3.99 million on the day they were granted. He also earned $1.47 million in salary and $94,684 in other compensation, a category that includes perks such as life insurance, use of company vehicles and meals during business hours.

But in the filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the company did not include Dauch's bonus, which will be at least his base salary of $1.47 million and could be more than three times the base pay depending on how the company performed compared with its competitors.

"The amounts of the bonuses for 2007 are not calculable as of the date of this proxy statement and it is not possible to estimate the date that they are expected to be determined at this time," the company said in its filing.

Dauch's bonus in 2006 was $3.9 million, and his total compensation that year was valued at roughly $7.5 million.

His base salary last year increased $129,172, or 9.6 percent, up from about $1.34 million in 2006.

FULL story at link.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

1. What a Dauchebag!

:grr:

[navarth]

2. good thing for all the anti-union clowns around here to read.

thanks for the post. entusiastic k & r

[dmallind]

3. Definitely unfair - but scales are different

Let's say he decided to be an ubermensch and work for nothing - no bonuses or anything.

His total income equals approximately 5% of the savings he's looking for.

Math is based on 3600 workers making $14/hr less for 2080 hrs per year. $5.5MM to about $104.8MM

I haven't the slightest idea how much AA needs to cut costs to remain a viable concern and an employer at all let alone one paying $28/hr base pay, but let's say it's the latter number as a working hypothesis. It could of course be somehwere in between.

So the CEO works for nothing and they'd still need to cut $99.3MM. Which means the workers could get paid $14.74 an hour instead cet par.

It's a very tempting comparison to make but every time I run the numbers during such disputes, even using the entire executive management team - those individuals in the SEC filings - it usually comes up to be small potatoes compared to the cost of labor.

Yes of course the higher paid executives should ALWAYS feel the same pain in cost cuts - and feel it at a greater ratio than the front line. I was lucky enough to be part of the management structure of a company that did exactly that when times were tight - cutting department heads and above twice as much as those lower on the ladder - but the greater dollar savings still came from the front line cuts just by sheer numbers.