CAW wants Navistar to build Canuck trucks at home

TORONTO — The CAW is furious that the Canadian government has signed a $254 million deal with Navistar to make military trucks in Texas while the truckmaker has laid off all but 200 workers at its heavy truck assembly plant in Chatham, Ont.

In a letter to Defence Minister Peter MacKay and other high ranking politicians, CAW President Ken Lewenza insists that the Canadian government rethink its plan to let Navistar make vehicles outside of Canada while the plants in this country — including the Chatham plant, Paccar’s Quebec facility, and Freightliner’s soon-to-be shuttered Sterling plant in St. Thomas — are under threat.

"If we are going to try and stimulate the economy in Canada and specifically, where manufacturing is at an all time low and job loss is unprecedented, your government must recognize how critical it is to ensure that Canadian tax dollars are spent to put Canadians to work," Lewenza wrote.

The union boss reminded the government that it has invested over $30 million in the Chatham facility in return for maintaining jobs in Ontario.

Union leaders say the company should give the Chatham plant the work, adding that the facility could take on the contract with "very little or no adjustment."

Navistar spokesman Roy Wiley disagrees saying the trucks wouldn’t fit on the assembly line that was designed for class 8 highway tractors.