GM Comp Committee Rewards Wagoner

General Motors Chief Executive Rick Wagoner's salary and other compensation rose 64 percent in 2007 to about $15.7 million, mainly due to option grants, according to a recently filed proxy.

In its CD&A, the GM compensation committee cited significant progress over the past few years in reducing the automaker's healthcare costs, increasing growth internationally, and improvements in sales of its cars and trucks as part of the rationale for the pay packages awarded to top executives. Even so, the issue of executive compensation in the struggling U.S. auto industry has become something of a hot-button issue because of the United Auto Workers union.

Wagoner's compensation rose from about $9.57 million in 2006 as reported by Reuters. The figure was arrived at based on Wagoner's salary, all other compensation, and the basis of annual grants. GM paid Wagoner a salary of $1.6 million in 2007, along with $1.8 million in non-equity incentive compensation and nearly $700,000 for other compensation that includes insurance benefits, security, aircraft expenses and other factors.

GM reported a record $39 billion net loss in 2007. The automaker, which has been restructuring, reached a contract last year with the UAW that permitted buyouts for hourly workers, a second-tier wage for new hires, and a plan that will push billions of healthcare obligations into a union-aligned trust. Wagoner had accepted a reduced base salary in 2006 and 2007 and only about 16 percent of his compensation is guaranteed.