Navistar, CAW agree to build new class 8 truck in Chatham; second shift also added

CHATHAM, Ont. (June 28, 2004) — Canadian Auto Worker members employed at the International Truck and Engine plant in Chatham, Ont. voted yesterday to ratify an agreement that will extend their current contract by two years and also ensure a new line-haul class-8 truck will be built at the Ontario facility.

Today’s Trucking reported last week the two sides had reached a tentative agreement. Yesterday, CAW Local 127 — which represents production and maintenance employees — and Local 35 — representing office workers — voted to ratify new labour contracts that will now run through June 30, 2009. The deal reportedly includes cost of living allowances, but no wage increases.

Parent company Navistar International and the union have also indicated that the modified contracts improve manufacturing flexibility for a new heavy-duty line-haul truck scheduled to be introduced at Chatham and go into production in January 2007. The Chatham plant currently produces 9000i Series highway tractors and employs about 650 workers.

Earlier this year, Navistar announced a $300 million program for the new class 8 model. But until now, it was not known whether the future truck would be produced in Chatham, the U.S. or the company’s Escobedo, Mexico plant.

Meanwhile, the CAW also announced that Navistar will add a second shift at the Chatham facility in the next few months in order to meet surging class 8 demand. Bob Chernecki, assistant to CAW president Buzz Hargrove, told the Toronto Star the company plans to add a second shift in August to jack up production from the current 84 trucks a day to 176 trucks by the end of the year. The second shift will add about 300 jobs — about the same number of workers currently on layoff.

The Chatham plant seems to have fully recovered since a heated strike in 2002 resulted in plant closures and threats from the company to close the facility and shift production to Escobedo.

In a last-ditch effort to save the plant, CAW members ratified a 3.5-year deal in May 2003 that included $47.7 million in savings on labour costs. It wasn’t enough, said Navistar, and the plant received a lifeline only when both the federal and provincial governments kicked-in $65 million in aid. Navistar said at the time it would spend $270 million over the next 10 years in technology, training programs, and equipment to modernize the plant.

— with files from the Toronto Star