American Axle to cut about 400 salaried jobs

DETROIT (Reuters) - American Axle & Manufacturing Holdings Inc (AXL.N: Quote, Profile, Research) has extended early-retirement offers to salaried workers as part of a plan to eliminate about 400 white-collar positions on top of factory job cuts now under way.

Amid record high gasoline prices, the company is battling a steep drop in sales of trucks and SUVs for which it produces parts.

American Axle expects to eliminate one salaried post for every five factory jobs it is cutting, spokeswoman Renee Rogers said.

The Detroit-based supplier plans to eliminate about 2,000 union-represented U.S. hourly factory jobs through buyout and early retirement offers under a four-year contract ratified in May with the United Auto Workers.

If UAW buyouts amount to 2,000 workers, that would imply 400 white dollar cuts, or a fifth of American Axle's salaried workforce worldwide.

"We obviously have to make adjustments (to salaried workforce)," Rogers said. "We made the offers in late June." She said the company wanted to achieve the cuts through early retirement and attrition, although layoffs are also a possibility.

American Axle had said in late May that it would eliminate some salaried jobs, but had not specified how many.

About 3,650 UAW-represented hourly workers had ratified a concessionary contract that cut hourly wages by nearly 40 percent and allowed American Axle to close three plants. The agreement ended a three-month strike that had idled at least 30 plants at key customer General Motors Corp (GM.N: Quote, Profile, Research).

However, the U.S. market for large trucks and SUVs has declined steeply in recent weeks as gasoline prices spiked, raising concerns that potential savings from the cost-cutting labor deal would not be enough to counter a deepening downturn.