Strike against wage cutting completes first month Pay for American Axle CEO rises to $10.2 million

Dauch has threatened to shift production to low-wage factories in the US and Mexico unless workers in five plants in Michigan and western New York accept a pay cut from $28.15 to as low as $11.50 an hour. He is also demanding a sharp reduction in medical benefits, the elimination of employer-paid pensions and retiree health care coverage and the wiping out of another 1,000 jobs.

Dauch saw his base salary increase from $1.34 million in 2006 to $1.47 million in 2007. He collected the rest in stock, options and changes in pension value. His total compensation rose 9.47 percent over 2006, when he received $9.32 million, even though the company lost $222 million that year.

Dauch, a former Chrysler executive and ex-chairman of the National Association of Manufacturers, has been one of the auto industry’s highest paid executives, receiving total compensation of $68 million from 2003 to 2007. During this period he has slashed the workforce at American Axle by nearly one half, shuttered his plant in Buffalo, New York, and expanded operations in low-cost plants. This boosted the company’s profits to $37 million last year, despite the slowdown in auto sales.

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