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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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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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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