Alternative title: Dicke E Dauch, More Evil Day by Day

Welcome to the world that has become the United States Labor market.

It's filled with companies that pay CEO's hundreds of thousands of dollars and into the multimillions of dollars.

From the American Red Cross' Multi-Billion dollar Blood Business to Wal-Mart's sticking it to folks like Debbie Shank (and yes, they were well within their legal right to do so), but what Dick E Dauch did and continues to do, well, it just kind of makes me ill, to the nth degree.

Why you might ask, well, I think the Detroit News kind of figured that one out:

Since American Axle was spun off from General Motors and reconstituted in 1994, the union negotiates with American Axle, not GM, and does not get the sweetheart deal other UAW workers will get. In fact, Local 235 went on strike for three months last year and lost. It was a cold, bitter dispute, complete with fires in the oil drums. The unionized workers, numbering nearly 2,000 at the time, gave in to deep wage cuts, in some cases from $28 an hour to $14, in exchange for keeping their jobs. Apparently it was not enough. Fewer than 300 union members were working in the plant Monday.

In the meantime, Dick Dauch, the CEO and chairman of American Axle, was given an $8.5 million bonus by his board of directors after the strike and gave assurances to the workers and the city of Hamtramck that he would keep production here.

Yes, emphasis is mine.

I followed the strike. I was a bit obsessive about it.

I posted pictures like that of a 60 year old woman in an officer's chokehold. Or how Republican staffers who were meeting with UAW members about the bridge loans to the auto industry had NEVER heard of American Axle or their 11 week strike.

I followed one of my favorite workers Jerd0708, and cross referenced worker pay and executive pay, an issue that resinates with workers from Wal-Mart to the American Red Cross to the guys and gals on the docks. It's the Entitlement Mentality of the highest levels of executives that seals the fate of so many of us who simply want to work. Folks who just want to put in an honest day of work for an honest day of pay.

More than ever, I believe in the power of unions, but we need stronger labor laws to make it possible for union workers to rebuild the middle class. We need to pass the Employee Free Choice Act to make it possible for more workers to sign a union card and join a union. Together maybe we can start holding boards of directors, CEOs and other executives accountable for their actions when they give an $8.5 million bonus to Dick E Dauch (I said BONUS here) just for the hell of it.

One other thing:
We as a nation need to do a better job of ensuring that companies can't just flee one jurisdiction to go to another because somewhere, down the road, doing so might be cheaper (think of what American Axle is doing in moving jobs to Mexico or Kongsberg Automotive moving production into Poland) in terms of labor costs and environmental costs. Again, from the Detroit News:

Chris Son, the director of communications at American Axle, called late Wednesday to say that the layoffs are "fallout from the GM and Chrysler shutdowns." He also confirmed that the Mexicans will continue to work as the Americans are out on the street.

"For logistical reasons, a level of production will continue in Mexico," said Son. "At the same time, there will be lower production requirements in Detroit. Other than that, I have no further comment on that matter."

Logistical reasons, right. Chris and Dick, if American workers can't buy cars produced with your parts, what's the point in moving to Brazil, Poland or continuing operations in Mexico? If we can't buy these cars, who will? Oh wait, I know the answer, guys like you, right?

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Reuters is reporting that the New York Times has interviewed numerous executives who told Freddie Mac’s CEO to dial back on the risky loans and increase their capital cushion, but Syron knew better and was simply too afraid to say no to anyone.

When I was an underwriter, loans often went through Loan Prospector (LP). This is the proprietary system created by Freddie Mac, Desk Top Underwriter (DU) was the one created by Fannie Mae for their loans.

Over the years, I watched as loans that I reviewed had increasingly bad credit, no assets or a combination of factors and they were getting through LP. In the early days of LP, it processed the easy loans, the A1 credit the loans with high credit scores (above 660) or ones that had lot of cash left over. But LP is really only as good as the user inputting the data and too often, mortgage brokers would send it through time and time again until they got an accept and once they did, whatever requirements they needed they made sure the paper work would be in the file.

For instance, if a borrower had 10 open credit accounts and borrowing money from their 401k meant that they could pay off 2 or 3 of those credit card debts, they might get through LP because those paid in full accounts meant that LP might issue an accept.

I thought of these tactics as gaming the system. In the early days, I didn’t see this sort of thing very often. But by around 2002, I was seeing it on nearly all the loans that were pulled for quality review due to an early default (loan that went into foreclosure the 1st year of the loan).

So, when Reuters wrote this:

In an interview with the paper, Freddie Mac's former chief risk officer, David Andrukonis, recalled telling Syron in mid-2004 that the company was buying bad loans that would likely pose an enormous financial and reputational risk to the company and the country.

Syron received a memo stating that the firm's underwriting standards were becoming shoddier and that the company was becoming exposed to losses, the paper said, citing Andrukonis and two others familiar with the document.

But Syron refused to consider possibilities for reducing Freddie Mac's risks, the paper cited Andrukonis as saying.

Having been associated with the industry and witnessed these loans myself (I never worked for Freddie or Fannie nor did I work for a mortgage company in anyway), it makes me wonder what was really going through Syron’s mind in 2004. That’s when Reuter’s sealed the deal for me with this little ditty:

Those and other choices initially paid off for Syron, who has collected more than $38 million in compensation since 2003, the NY Times said.

I suppose for Dick Syron, it’s just like his counterpart Dick Dauch (American Axle), it’s all about the money in their pockets and to hell with the rest of us.

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So, I was reading Dean Baker's column in the Guardian and came to the conclusion that this guy is F&*king BRILLIANT!!

Then we have the issue of executive compensation. One of the main reasons that most workers have seen little benefit from economic growth over the last three decades has been that so much money has been redistributed upwards to the people who run companies like Fannie and Freddie.

Last year, Richard Syron, the CEO of Freddie Mac pulled down $19.8m in compensation. This is an interested number. With the new minimum wage hike, a full-year minimum wage worker would earn $13,100 a year. That means that in 1,511 years and five months, a minimum wage worker will earn as much as Syron did last year. That's good news, because before last week's increase, a minimum wage earner would have been forced to work 1,692 years and three months to equal Syron's pay.

Of course, this comparison is unfair because it doesn't consider their differences in productivity. A minimum wage worker might clean a building or run a check out counter, in other words, provide a benefit to the economy.

Syron, a man whose only job is to follow the housing market, was too incompetent to notice the largest housing bubble in the history of the world. As a result, he kept pumping in credit to hugely over-valued housing markets, allowing prices to become even more over-valued. With house prices now plummeting, tens of millions of families are seeing their life savings vanish before their eyes. Syron's productivity is considerably below that of the custodian or the checkout clerk.

Last week, government action helped to support the pay of both minimum wage workers and Bill Syron. And almost everybody in Congress thinks this is fair.

Head over to MSNBC for more of the story on Syron (or in my book Sauron...I guess I sound like a Lord of the Rings Geek, huh?)

Freddie Mac Chairman and Chief Executive Richard Syron pocketed nearly $19.8 million in compensation last year, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing Friday, even though the mortgage company's stock lost half its value in 2007.

If Syron stays at the helm of Freddie Mac through the end of next year, he will receive nearly $20 million in stock awards if the board says he has met certain goals. This year, he is guaranteed to get $8.8 million in stock grants regardless of performance.

For 2007, Syron received a $1.2 million salary, a $3.45 million bonus, including $1.25 million to remain at the company, and $771,585 in other compensation. He also received stock and options valued by the company at $14.3 million at the time they were awarded.

I find it fascinating that he was paid $1.2 mill TO STAY at Freddie Mac despite the de-valuation of the stock price. If I were a waitress and my average check sale fell like the devaluation of Freddie, well, I'd be looking for another job. Wouldn't most of us?

But I keep forgetting CEO's are like caviar, they smell, only the rich want it and yet, it's really just the inner scrapings of bottom feeders. I suppose this is what Dick Dauch meant by the "Entitlement Mentality" comment. Cause it sure looks like boards keep rewarding those with his kind of mentality, you know, like their ENTITLED to it.

BTW, you aren't Dickey boy nor are you Sauron, oops, I mean Syron.

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Okay, the Greedy Ass part is mine, but it fits, I think.

I was noticing that I'd gottena couple of hits off alternet and didn't know why...so I looked, and wouldn't you know it, they've linked to a post I had up on that piece of shit Dauch. Highly recommend you head over and read it yourself, but as a teaser:

Smart societies understand this dynamic and work, through tax laws and cultural norms, to keep rewards within reason. Here in the United States, we used to have many such laws and norms. We no longer do. We have swept away the restraints that once kept our society's rewards relatively reasonable.

And now we're paying the price. Our smart and talented today regularly do dumb things -- and cause great damage.

Our latest exhibit A: the career of Richard E. Dauch, Corporate America's latest superstar executive turned scourge of the late great American middle class.

Dauch currently serves as the CEO of American Axle and Manufacturing, an auto parts giant carved out of General Motors 14 years ago. Late this past May, after threatening to outsource "all of our business to other locations around the world," Dauch forced 3,600 striking workers at his company's five original American plants to accept a contract that cuts wages from $28 an hour down to as low as $14.35 and slices the company's U.S. workforce by half.

One month later, in June, Dauch pocketed his reward: a $8.5 million bonus from the American Axle board of directors for his "leadership role" in "the structural transformation achieved under our new labor agreements."

Dauch has now collected, over the last decade, over $258 million in compensation from American Axle -- and, in the process, tossed thousands of U.S. worker families out of the middle class.

Auto workers, ironically, once symbolized that middle class, and for good reason. Precedent-setting union contracts at GM and other U.S. automakers after World War II helped give birth to the first mass middle class in world history.

And the executives who signed those contracts? They did well, too, but not too well. In 1950, for instance, General Motors president Charlie Wilson pulled in $586,100 in income, a bit over $5 million in current dollars. Today, someone at that $5 million level will usually clear, after taxes, around $4 million. Wilson cleared the equivalent of only $1.25 million. He paid nearly three-quarters of his income in taxes.

They've linked to my posting on Dick E Dauch's entitlement mentality. Right now, I'd rather the strike had been more successful for the AAM workers. I'd much rather that than a link on alternet.

All in all, there's little more to say about Dick E Dauch except he's a greedy bastard. Yep, that about sums it up.

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Continental cuts workforce and more due to fuel costs

DALLAS -- Continental Airlines said Thursday it is cutting 3,000 jobs and reducing capacity by 11 percent, citing record fuel costs that have pushed the industry into its worst crisis since 2001. It also said its two top executives will forgo pay for the rest of the year.

The job cuts represent about 6.5 percent of the company's work force of 45,000.

However, Continental seems to have a conscience:

The company also said Chairman and Chief Executive Lawrence Kellner and President Jeff Smisek will not take salaries or incentive pay for the rest of the year.

Did you catch that, from September until the end of the year, Kellner and Smisek will forego pay. And how much is that exactly? The Post claims:

Last year, Kellner got a salary of $712,500 and total compensation that the company valued at nearly $6 million, down 9.3 percent from the year before, according to an Associated Press analysis of a company filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

However, about one-third of Kellner's compensation was in stock and option grants that are now worth far less than they were when granted in February 2007 because of the slump in the company's stock. In a filing Wednesday, the company said 2008 salaries would be $296,875 for Kellner and $240,000 for Smisek.

So this salary issue made me start thinking about Dick E Dauch at American Axle and his entitlement mentality. Not long back, over at Freep (Detroit Free Press), there were all these anti-union folks pointing out that Dauch’s more than $10 mill was fair compensation for him starting the company and making it profitable. That even if they weren’t profitable (they were last year at over $37 mill profits), he still deserved a high salary of over $1mill. I wonder how many of these same people are cheering Kellner’s and Smisek’s decisions to forego pay during the current fuel crisis.

But before anyone gets their panties in to a bunch and quotes me anything about how Americans get paid too much and CEO’s earn their keep or that labor is a commodity and blather on about the market, let me point out this gem from the Post:

The company said that several fare increases have not been enough to offset the rising cost of fuel. Continental estimates it will spend $2.3 billion more this year than last _ a difference of $50,000 per employee. Fuel has surpassed labor as Continental's biggest expense.

My dad’s shop is having a similar problem. The cost of running the presses and hammers is high and he’s trying to get the company to add a fuel surcharge to orders but he hasn’t been successful at this yet. Since my dad gets a profit sharing incentive through work as his bonus, it’s important to him that the company make money and he’s sitting back and watching as his 1 to 2% bonus becomes fuel for running a hammer for a couple of days. Kind of sucks, doesn’t it?

I’m hopeful that Continental will be able to work things out without layoffs, perhaps through buyouts or retirement or attrition, because I really don’t want to see anyone have to figure out how to make it in this economy without a job and no prospect for new employment.

BTW, my dad’s shop is hiring. They’d rather hire seasoned journeymen level press operators, tool and die makers and machinists. So, if you’d like to move to Ohio, East of Cleveland, drop me a line and I’ll send your info to my dad. Ohio’s a great place to grow up, I just wish I were able to suggest something for the Continental employees.

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crossposted on Dailykos and Joe's Union Review

Obama made his first public comments about the American Axle strike last Thursday in Macomb and then, suddenly, there’s an agreement. I highly recommend seeing the video and listening to what he says about American Manufacturing jobs:


Let's take a look at the “agreement” Mlive has the skinny:

DETAILS OF THE DEAL
Details of the tentative agreement between the United Auto Workers and American Axle and Manufacturing Holdings Inc.:

WAGES: Varies by factory location. Production workers in Detroit would see pay cuts from $28 per hour to $18.50, up from $17 the company was offering. Factory support workers would make $14.35 in Detroit and $10 per hour in Three Rivers.

BUYOUTS: Workers with less than 10 years of seniority could get $85,000 to leave the company. Those with 10 or more years could get $140,000.

PLANT CLOSINGS: Company will close forges in Detroit and Tonawanda, N.Y. No date was revealed for the closures.

EARLY RETIREMENT: Workers who are 60 or above with 10 or more years of service could get $55,000 to retire.

BUYDOWNS: Workers would get three annual payments to make the transition to lower wages. The maximum amount would total $105,000.

BONUS: Workers would get a $5,000 signing bonus.

THE VOTE: Starts Monday at some UAW locals. A large local in Detroit votes Thursday.

The “deal” is pretty darn disappointing especially in light of American Axle’s profitability, rare in the GM spin-off companies. So, let’s take a look at the striker’s reactions from the AP to step up their coverage of the American Axle strike:

After the meeting, Adrian King, outgoing president of UAW Local 235 in Detroit, said the session didn't go well. Workers were angry about the deal, and their frustration was compounded by a malfunctioning public address system that hampered questions from the crowd.
"We had a lot of angry brothers and sisters," he said. "It's definitely a hard-looking contract, very tough pill to swallow for the membership."

>snip<

Most workers leaving the meeting Sunday predicted the vote will be close. One worker tossed pages of the summary into the air as he walked out.

"There will be a lot of unhappy people," Reed said as he carried a picket sign outside the school. "But I think it's going to be accepted."

Today, American Axle workers are voting on this “deal”. From Mlive for some, it’s good news like:

Jeff Claussen, 58, of Three Rivers, said he is prepared to take a buyout and will retire after 28 years at the Three Rivers plant. His 59-year-old wife, Ruth, retired last year.

"If you prepared for retirement, and we have for the past 20 years, then I guess you're all set," Claussen said.

For some, it’s really bad news (from AP)

I'm voting no. It's totally unacceptable," said Gary Reed, 52, of Warren, who criticized American Axle Chairman and CEO Richard Dauch for making millions while asking production workers to take a pay cut from $28 per hour to $18.50.

"It's a slap in our face," Reed said. "We've been watching this guy making millions and millions of dollars even while we've been on strike, and were going to accept a stab in the back and just walk away with a smile on our face?"

And for others, it’s a mixed bag, from Freep

"I feel like I'm done, but I have no choice," said Tod Rippe, 43, of Dearborn. He said he plans to accept a buyout and may move out of Michigan. "It's a nightmare. It really is."

Mike Ulicne, 39, of Trenton said the contract would be tough to accept.

"I'm relieved, but not happy or satisfied," Ulicne said.

>snip<

Terasiena Cunningham, 36, of West Bloomfield started a similar chant for workers gathered outside the school.
Cunningham said she feels workers gained little, if anything, by going on strike.

"We can get better than this," she said. Cunningham also said she wished the two sides had extended the contract that expired Feb. 26, allowing workers to stay at their jobs as negotiations continued.

Former Local 235 UAW Vice President Erik Webb, 39, of Detroit said a much calmer meeting was held Sunday afternoon at the Local 235's union hall in Hamtramck, and predicted the contract would pass.

"Everybody who has been out on the picket line has been frustrated. People are ready to go back to work," Webb said. "We didn't really get what we wanted to get, but something is better than nothing."

>snip<

"Most of us are at a point where, financially, we are so ruined that this contract beats being homeless," said Michael Dudun, 46, of St. Clair Shores.

Workers at American Axle are hurting and some are willing to vote for anything. After 11 weeks (Wednesday marks 12 weeks out), it’s understandable. Again, from Mlive

Local workers have been living on $200 a week in strike pay. Many workers who said they were unhappy with the settlement said they would vote for it anyway.

"It's just a nasty situation," said Curtis McCall, 45, an American Axle worker who attended an informational meeting Sunday in Detroit. "You almost have no choice. If you vote no, then really you're out in the cold."

Workers will see their wages slashed under the deal.

A 54-year-old worker from Lockport Township, who declined to give his name, said he will see his pay drop from $27 an hour to $14.50. The 15-year employee said Sunday he hadn't decided how he would vote.

"We're putting one of our trucks up for sale, I've sold some scuba equipment on eBay -- but I just don't think we can adjust to such a drastic rate in pay," the worker said.

The summary of the contract distributed by the union said there will be buyouts of $85,000 for someone with less than 10 years with the company and $140,000 for a worker with more than 10 years. An offer of a $55,000 early retirement bonus also was included in the proposed contract.

Workers would get a wage "buydown" of up to $105,000 paid over three years to help ease the transition to lower hourly pay. The size of the buydown would vary with the size of a worker's pay reduction.

It’s even tougher to swallow a contract like this when you know that Dick Dauch will be shelling out nice bonuses to himself again next year.

But then again, what can we expect in this day and age? The haves like Dauch can reap $10 plus millions dollar compensation packages while the working stiff gets a whopping $14 to $17 an hour. Seems an awful lot like the times of the Robber Barons and I for one don’t want to return to the days of ole and the likes of Carnegie and Rockefeller.

I don’t know how I’d manage with a 50% reduction in income even with the 3 year buy down. I suppose, like many others, I’d be looking at a new line of work or a new job, just like Jerd0708:

I have been on the hunt for a new employer. Going well. I think I am going to take the buy out either way. I had a real nice interview with a forging / machining company out in Wayne. My pastors brother in law works there and loves it. They have been looking for CNC experienced guys to start up a new machining building. They can only handle about 20% of there work there right now so they are building a huge new building with all new equipment to bring all the work back in-house. Good money and they just got a huge contract with a wind mill company making rings for the shafts and generators. They are 100% non automotive. Quarterly bonuses to the workers and great benefits.

Another company I have been dealing with is in South Carolina. Had two phone interviews and now they are flying me down for a plant tour and sit down on Tue the 13th. I really like this company too. They are a German firm that make Engines and Crankshafts. Huge in Germany. They have a lot of new equipment. They are offering me a shift leader position. Money will be close to what I was making Pre-Strike. All Benefits and a lot of time off. Wife really wants to stay here but is cool with leaving too.

Voting on the contract is taking place today, so we should know tonight if the contract has been ratified. I’m very happy that they might be going back to work this week, but I still have to say that this is a really awful pill to swallow. For those choosing to go down the path that Jerd0708 has now chosen, there are profitable forges in the States doing good precision work with owners who aren’t trying to reap for themselves on the backs of their workers. Unfortunately, AAM isn’t one of these companies and Dick Dauch isn’t one of these owners. For me, it really all comes down to Dick’s entitlement mentality; he’s entitled to all of it and hell with his workers.

So, would you vote for this contract?

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Not so happy news for this Mother's Day, from the International Herald Tribune:

Unions members previously had said the company wanted to negotiate the closure of American Axle's Detroit and Tonawanda, New York, forge operations. Gettelfinger confirmed Saturday that those closings had been agreed upon.

I hope the GM offer is moving this along. I'm sure everyone wants to be back to work.

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crossposted on Joe's Union Review

General Motors said Thursday that it had agreed to give as much as $200 million to a parts supplier, American Axle and Manufacturing, to help settle a 10-week strike that has reduced or halted production at 32 G.M. factories.

About Freaking time!! Way to step up GM, way to freaking step up!! More from the New York Times

G.M. said in its filing that the deal to pay American Axle was reached recently but did not say when. A spokeswoman for American Axle, Renee Rogers, said, “This is sort of a breaking news situation. It happened very quickly.” Ms. Rogers said a deal to end the strike was not imminent but that “multiple” issues had been resolved.

Of G.M.’s cash infusion, she said, “It makes us hopeful that the parties can quickly reach an agreement to bring an end to the terribly costly and disruptive strike.”

Gee, GM, it's about time you realized how costly this strike has been. For the workers, it's been even worse as Food Pantries have run dry all over, take the report from the Toledo Blade:

Linda Crouch-Roepken, associate executive director of The Foodbank, said the strike has raised demand and lowered donations. She said the hardest hit food pantries have been AFL-CIO satellite sites, including one spot where 300 people picked up food a recent day.

"We have been able to address the need, but it has been a strain on the entire network," Crouch-Roepken said.

So, to sum this up, way to finally step up PUBLICLY GM, now Dick Dauch, stop being a freaking dickhead and let your workers return to work based on a FAIR CONTRACT. All workers should be able to put food on their tables and also into the pantries, too.

Lockhart says all the talk about pay cuts and buyouts is upsetting, but he has to prepare for the inevitable. He doesn't want a pay cut, but he also wants to go back to work.

"I guess that's what it's going to be," he said. "I refuse to stay mad and make being out here even worse."

And right now, with this GM proposal, I finally have my fingers crossed and I'm holding my breath that this might really be near the end of this strike. It's still not good enough, I'm sure it isn't good enough for Lockhart or Jerd0708 or any of the other American Axle workers out on the lines right now, but it's movement on the strike. And that to me, it's a good sign.

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Rick Tincher knew there was a problem when the AFL-CIO's main food pantry at 184 Salem Ave. ran out of food.

"It was chaotic," recalled Tincher, AFL-CIO labor liaison to the United Way of the Greater Dayton Area. "It was a fire sale. It was the alarm bell going off."

Food pantry empty.

empty.

And still, no agreement. No contract, no work.

More from the Dayton Daily News:

To gauge the local impact the United Auto Workers strike against American Axle & Manufacturing, simply visit one of the satellite food pantries the AFL-CIO opened in the strike's wake. There's one at 313 S. Jefferson St. in downtown Dayton and another at 1543 Alwildy Ave., opened with the help of the local United Way.

At either location, hundreds of families weathering temporary lay-offs as a result of the strike get help stretching their food dollars. Volunteers load cardboard boxes with jars of peanut butter, sacks of potatoes, cans of soup, stew or pork and beans.

Tincher points to the numbers: In February, the AFL-CIO pantry served 252 family members, packing up 3,780 meals.

The UAW strike against American Axle began Feb. 26 and radiated outward. The General Motors SUV plant in Moraine halted production March 3.

So the March numbers jumped, with the union pantry serving 687 families 10,305 meals.

From April 1-25, 2,686 families drew from the pantry, taking 40,290 meals.

Compared to March and April 2007, the numbers of meals served has jumped 2,389 percent.

Tincher — who emphasizes that he supports the UAW's strike — estimates the pantries have six more weeks of food.

"I've got to prepare for the worst and hope for the best," Tincher said.

When, Dick, when will you do the right thing for your company and the workers who made it profitable in the first place?

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I know she's the spokesperson, but OMG, I'm so sick of seeing Renee Roger's name in all of these freaking articles. From BizJournal:

"There is no timetable for a presentation to the union membership at this time," company spokeswoman Renee Rogers said.

She was referring to what last week she called speculation that negotiations included closing Tonawanda and Detroit forge plants. She said that "at this point, all of what you have been reading is rumor and speculation. There has been nothing presented to membership so we are not going to comment on any of that stuff that at this point is just speculation."

So, Renee wants to make sure that everyone knows that the previous reports were wrong and they're no closer to an agreement. Yippee, isn't that great? But wait, there's more, the business article broke down some numbers for us...

But little else was being reported as the future of the company's two Buffalo-area facilities and about 600 hourly and salaried jobs could hang on the outcome.

- snip -

The Tonawanda plant employs about 400 hourly workers. A machining facility in Cheektowaga, which has 110 hourly employees, has not been mentioned as a target for closure, but because it services the Tonawanda plant, its future would be uncertain if the forge plant closed.

I don't know about you, but I so needed to be reminded what's at stake here in terms of numbers. Actually, wait, I didn't!!

And, Renee, it's not just Freep reporting on this, other news outlets are as well...

Worker Ken Krzycki said a local union official told picketers some details of the possible settlement. It would include negotiating the closure of American Axle's Detroit and Tonawanda, N.Y., forge operations. The possible settlement would also include wage cuts for production workers to $17 an hour from about $28.

Local 235 President Adrian King confirmed the numbers and said the union was evaluating the proposal.

Again, bad proposal. Doesn't matter if it's coming out of BizJournal, Freep or Washington Post, a local agreement is just like breaking up the union. When strikers worry about their individual jobs, it pits worker against worker at plants from Tonawanda to Three Rivers. And this also means way more work at the local level because Local agreements mean that each individual plant must hold the company accountable, instead of getting the help from the national (or international) on issues like Pay, classification and many other issues.

And what makes this important is that in local agreements, many don't vote on the contracts. Look at UAW local 1005 in Parma Ohio

...and at the end, they mention that the UAW Parma local REJECTED their contract:

Workers in Parma rejected a new local contract earlier this month. UAW Local 1005 President Tito Boneta, in a letter to his members, said voter turnout was less than 50 percent for that rejection, so the union's leadership is putting the tentative pact up for a new vote Wednesday.

And at the Re-Vote, they barely approved their contract with a TOTAL VOTE FOR: 550 and AGAINST: 537. That means that 51% approved it. And I wish I could figure out how many showed up for this vote, or rather, how much more than 50% of the membership for this vote.

But wait, don't worry, The Toledo Blade has more, this time they make a note about the Delta Township plant, out on strike since April 17th...

GM spokesman Dan Flores said Friday the automaker is pleased the agreement was ratified and hopes to reach other local agreements.

A local at a plant in Delta Township near Lansing went on strike April 17.

Locals at a Warren transmission factory, a Grand Rapids metal fabricating plant, a metal parts stamping factory in Mansfield, Ohio, and a factory in Kansas City, Kan., all have threatened walkouts.

Local plants negotiate their own operating agreements.

And as for Kansas City's plant, well, the Washington Post (actually it's from AP) has the scoop and it means, STRIKE...

KANSAS CITY, Kan. -- Members of a United Auto Workers union local went on strike Monday at General Motors' Fairfax facility _ hitting the plant that makes GM's popular Malibu sedan.

During talks over the weekend, UAW Local 31 set a Monday morning strike deadline because union negotiators believed the two sides remained far from an agreement. The Fairfax plant employs more than 2,500 UAW members.

The plant makes the Chevrolet Malibu, a medium-sized sedan that was named "Car of the Year" at this year's North American International Auto Show in Detroit.

For GM and the UAW, it still feels like death from a million papercuts. From Renee's mouth to everyone out there, all of these local agreements for American Axle (if they are a part of the agreement even if Renee says there's no agreement, ugh, my head hurts), we're still talking a death by a million paper cuts. And I think it's cuts to AAM, GM and yep, the UAW.

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It seems that the bad news of recession, job loss and wage decrease just keeps getting better, especially as Dick Dauch continues to be, well, a Dick, from the Toledo Blade:

International Automotive Components, Inc., a major supplier to GM and other automakers, has laid off more than 370 of the 500 employers at its factory in Wauseon, a spokesman for the Dearborn, Mich., parts manufacturer said.

The local plant makes instrument panels and door modules for cars and trucks built by GM and Chrysler LLC. It continues to produce parts for Chrysler, a spokesman said.

Toledo’s Dana Holding Corp. this week was awarded a small contract from American Axle. The American Axle strike has shut down several GM plants, including laying off 1,100 at GM’s Toledo Powertrain factory and 700 at its Defiance Powertrain foundry.

So, seems like Dick is okay with screwing more than just his employees, his also willing to screw everyone else, too.

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Today, Reuters is reporting that AAM has rejected the new offer and is again saying that without huge concessions, US factories will close.

DETROIT, April 10 (Reuters) - American Axle & Manufacturing Holdings Inc (AXL.N: Quote, Profile, Research) said on Thursday a contract proposal from the United Auto Workers was a slight improvement, but still not market competitive and talks aimed at ending the union's six-week strike at the company's U.S. plants would continue.
>snip<

The parts supplier said it offered buyouts for UAW workers who would prefer to leave American Axle, or buydowns for hourly workers to accept lower wages and benefits, and again said it would have to close the U.S. plants if the union did not accept steep concessions.

Sure still looks as if Dauch is more in line with declaring Bankruptcy and moving all operations to Mexico than negotiating in good faith. It's too bad Dauch can't see the asset he has most at his disposal, his employees. He seems to really only see them as disposable. That is really sad.

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From the Boston Globe (Boston.com)

Tony Pasuy has worked as a skycap for American Airlines at Logan International Airport since 1993 and says he always loved the job. Dressed in the airline's trademark blue-and-white uniform, he helps travelers check in luggage outside the terminal, hoists heavy suitcases onto carts, and guides people in wheelchairs. Many passengers apparently liked him, too, giving him about $200 a day in tips, he said.

My mom’s a waitress and I put myself through college waiting tables on the graveyard shift. When you work for less than minimum wage, tips can make or break you. For Pasuy, it meant $200 a day in income to feed his family, put a roof over his head, maybe pay for medical bills or vacations or maybe even school clothes for kids. Basically, $200 a day meant that he could provide for himself and his family.

WELL, that is until American Airlines started to charge $2 per bag, that’s when all hell broke lose. Again from the Globe:

But American Airlines says it has done nothing wrong. It points out that signs posted at curbside kiosks say the fee excludes gratuities. The carrier says in court papers that it imposed the fee at Logan and other airports after losing $821 million in business in 2004 and contends that declining air travel after 9/11 may have caused tips to fall.

The airline is also challenging the credibility of the skycaps. Under questioning by lawyers for the airline and the skycaps, Pasuy acknowledged that he failed to report his tips to the IRS in recent years and said he earned only $8,001 in 2006, far less than his actual income.

Several airlines - including United, US Airways, and Northwest - began charging a baggage fee in recent years, but the suit in US District Court in Boston is the first to challenge it, Shannon Liss-Riordan, a Boston lawyer for the skycaps, said in an interview. Her firm is helping to prepare a similar suit against US Airways, she said.

Isn’t that sweet of American Airlines? Pointing out that tipped employees don’t declare all of their income? I think it’s so sweet. I know that when I waited tables I declared every penny because come tax time, there’s nothing like getting screwed for working without benefits, sick leave or adequate pay. Of course, American Airlines could just provide adequate pay and benefits to the skycaps to make up for the loss of the income, or, they could just fight them in court, instead. Which do you think they chose to do?

Tim Smith, a spokesman for Fort Worth-based American, said the carrier "is disappointed by the verdict and the amount awarded" and is evaluating its legal options.

So, the skycaps sued over their lost income and THE SKYCAPS WON!!

A federal jury in Boston on Monday determined that American Airlines (AMR) diverted more than $325,000 in tips from nine skycaps over the past two years since it imposed a $2 fee for curbside bag checking.

Steven Pearlstein at the Post linked this story to executive pay excess, you know, like the 10.5 million package that Dick Dauch issued to himself last year while asking his hourly employees to take a 50 to 60% pay cut this year? Well, Steve had even more scathing reviews of other executive excesses, let’s take a look:

This is not just another story of the incredible stupidity of airline executives and their willingness to sacrifice long-term customers' satisfaction and loyalty to short-term financial pressures. It is also a story of rank hypocrisy. It is these same airline executives who are constantly defending their own generous pay packages -- and those of other corporate executives -- by arguing that you can't retain and motivate key executives if they don't have the carrot of bonus pay dangled in front of their noses at all times.

That's certainly the approach being taken by Washington Mutual, the country's largest thrift, which was to the no-money-down, no-documentation mortgage loan what Drexel Burnham Lambert was to the junk bond. Now WaMu, as it is called, expects to write off $12 billion in bad loans when all is said and done. Its stock price has declined 70 percent over the past year.

Given those dismal results, it seemed only fitting that chief executive Kerry Killinger decided to forgo taking the $1.2 million bonus that he was entitled to under the company's executive compensation plan last year, settling for a measly $5.3 million in cash and stock. Other executives typically saw their bonuses cut in half.

Next year, however, things will be different. According to the company's recent proxy statement, WaMu's board of directors has decided that the bonuses for Killinger and 3,000 other top executives will be based not on net income, as is customary, but operating income, along with cost containment, fee income and customer loyalty -- all criteria that just happen to ignore the disastrous loans of the past. The board's rationale is that the point of the bonus program is to keep executives focused on improving the company's performance going forward. Or to put it another way: There's nothing we can do now about their past screw-ups, but the important thing is always to keep the carrot dangling in front of those donkeys up in corporate.

These two stories -- the one about the airline porters and the other about the WaMu executive bonus plan -- provide a window into the hypocrisy that permeates corporate thinking about incentive pay. The twisted logic goes something like this:

When times are tough, it's okay to rob the tip jar of front-line employees to make sure that there's still plenty of change in the tip jar of millionaire executives.

(EMPHASIS MINE)

Steven, you should have added Dick E Dauch to this list of out of touch executives ready and willing to rob their employees, it would have been just another very clear example of rampant hypocrisy in US executive pay.

As for Mr Pasuy and his 8 other co-plaintiffs, congrats. Hope you’re not able to make this a class action suit on behalf of all sky caps. It’s about time we had better Robin Hoods to match wits with the Robber Barons of these times.

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As the economy continues to slow, the housing crises continues to develop, home prices continue to fall, gas prices continue to go up, and the cost for just about everything in our lives rises from rice to wheat to a glass of milk...wel it's on this vein that Warren Brown at the Washington Post took the owner, Dick E Dauch, and his top executives to task for, well, being complete asses...

Equality of sacrifice -- it is on that issue that the management of American Axle did something so dumb, it borders on the unforgivable. While demanding that its workers accept cuts in pay and other compensation to help the company underwrite future development and competitive costs, American Axle's top four managers gave themselves hefty raises.

Richard E. Dauch, 65, the company's chairman and chief executive, earned $10.2 million last year -- $850,000 more than in 2006, according to Securities and Exchange Commission filings. American Axle earned $37 million in 2007 after posting a net loss of $222.5 million in 2006, when it began hinting that its workers would have to give something back for the company to keep moving forward.

It just doesn't sit right. It matters not that the company is Dauch's company, or that he can move it to Mexico if he wishes. It is simply wrong to ask the troops to bleed while the generals feast.

No one wins wars that way. And no company trying to gain a favorable position in the future of the global automobile industry will succeed using such an ill-considered strategy.

American Axle and the UAW sat back down yesterday. I've got my fingers crossed that they can come to a solution to this strike, and soon.

I wish they would just get it over with one way or another.

I'd like to see Jerd0708 able to go back to work. Until that day comes, I suppose I'll just peruse the AAM annual report so I can be mystified by this owner's gross stupidity.

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I'm hoping this is a positive piece of news from CNN Money

The scheduled meeting comes after American Axle made some moves to try to speed up the slow pace of talks. The strike has crippled pickup truck and SUV production at General Motors Corp. (GM) and has started to affect the auto maker's car production.

One labor analyst said the meeting between the two top officials is a significant development, as the strike has lasted longer and gotten more acrimonious than many thought it would.

"Essentially, they're meeting to get this back on track," said Harley Shaiken, a labor professor at the University of California Berkeley. "That doesn't mean a settlement is imminent. But it means both sides are concerned enough to try to discuss it at the highest levels."

Here's to hoping there's an end to this strike soon.

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Tula Connell has a story up right now on the main page of DMIblog.

Here's a teaser:

American Axle was created in 1994 when General Motors spun off five U.S. plants making axles and drive-line components, employing some 6,500 UAW members. That’s the same year NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement, became law. So even though American Axle is making plenty of profit, its greedy CEO wants more—and trade pacts like NAFTA and U.S. laws that provide no incentives for employers to create and expand good jobs in this country encourage corporations to move jobs out of the country. The result: Unbridled corporate greed at the expense of workers who make the products that in turn make the CEOs big bucks.

Highly recommend you take a minute and head over to DMIblog.

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Cross Posted on Joe's Union Review and Dailykos. Picture from Detroit Free Press's Andre Jackson.

When strikes are called, they are the last resort for the union and workers. It usually means that the companies are pushing for things the workers just can't accept. In the case of American Axle, this strike is a problem for this country, not just these workers, but nothing has been heard from these candidates.

American axle is asking its HOURLY workforce to take up to a 60% pay cut but won't talk about management and executive salaries and perks.

From the Detroit Free Press (virtually the only source of news on the strike)

On Feb. 26, 3,650 UAW members at American Axle went on strike after negotiations on a new contract collapsed. The company is seeking to cut wages and benefits in half, saying it needs to cut labor costs to compete with other suppliers that have won concessions from their unions.

The UAW, which has said it needs more data to substantiate those demands, argues the cuts are too steep for a company that is not in bankruptcy and made a profit last year.

I asking everyone to help here because we've become so consumed with the current primary that we're missing the kind of impact this strike is having on these workers and our economy.

Again, from the freepress:

As companies draw closer to the end of the first quarter, a Wall Street analyst warned that he expects the strike to take a toll on profits. Earlier this week, Deutsche Bank auto analyst Rod Lache cut first-quarter earnings estimates for GM, American Axle, Lear Corp. and Magna International Inc. because of the strike.

"There is concern that the prolonged shutdown could cause significant distress amongst smaller suppliers, ultimately translating to additional costs for tier 1 suppliers and automakers," Lache said in a note to investors Wednesday.

The affects on GM:are very serious:

So far, the strike has forced GM to cut production or shut 29 factories. That number is expected to rise to 30 by Monday.

>snip<

Lache expects GM to lose $2.41 a share in the first quarter, compared with his previous estimate of $1.05.

This strike has affected their suppliers as well as GM and that means, it is affecting other communities outside of the striking facilities from the Adrian Daily Telegram

ADRIAN — The strike at Detroit-based American Axle & Manufacturing Inc. has entered its fourth week, and its impact has extended to some local companies.

Inteva Products LLC in Adrian, which is the former Delphi Interiors and Closures facility, and Hi-Lex Controls Inc. in Hudson are among companies affected as a result of the strike that started Feb. 26 after American Axle failed to reach a contract agreement with the United Auto Workers union on economic issues.

UAW Local 2031 President Melissa Rogers said Tuesday the strike is the reason employees are experiencing job layoffs from Inteva Products. Those layoffs officially began March 3.

This is a HUGE ISSUE and we aren't discussing these families, these cities, these companies, we aren't asking any of the three candidates to even address these issues and we certainly aren't putting pressure on Dick E Dauch or his son, an executive with American Axle, Dick F Dauch, to fairly negotiate with the UAW.

So, today, I'm begging each of you to take a minute and do something, I'm asking you to:

1. contact the campaigns of Clinton, McCain, and Obama
2. ask them where they stand on the American Axle strike and
3. ask them what they're going to do about it.

When you've done that, let the strikers know by contacting the locals and the region. Your support is more important than you know.

Local 262
12432 ECKLES RD
LIVONIA, Michigan 48150-1037
Phone #: 734-464-2190

Local 235
Address: 1840 HOLBROOK ST
Detroit, Michigan 48212-3442
Phone #: 313-873-7250

Region 1
27800 George Merrelli Drive
Warren, MI 48092
TEL: (586) 427-9200
FAX: (586) 427-7142

Please Don't Let American Axle become an American Tragedy.

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