Navistar to use temp workers against strike

WARRENVILLE, Ill., June 19 Reuters reported that Navistar International Corp. said on Wednesday that it will hire temporary workers to staff its Chatham, Ontario, heavy truck plant, where union employees have been on strike since June 1.

The truck maker said it will resume production at Chatham as soon as possible to meet customer demand. Truck production also will continue at its Escobedo, Mexico, plant, where work was transferred after the strike began.

About 645 production and maintenance workers who are members of Canadian Auto Workers Local 127 went on strike at the Chatham plant, which was producing an average of 39 trucks a day, after talks on a new labor contract failed.

The main obstacles to a new agreement are job security and wages.

Negotiations for a new contract began on April 26. Earlier this year, Navistar said it might close the Chatham plant, near the Windsor, Canada, border in western Ontario, if major cost savings are not found.

Navistar said talks with the CAW ended late Tuesday without reaching an agreement, and no new talks are scheduled. The company said it remains open to a dialogue with the goal of resuming normal operations at the plant.

The company said it notified the CAW in January that it needed to reduce costs at the Chatham plant by $28 million to make it competitive. About $14 million in savings have been identified so far.

The Chatham plant is expected to ramp up production to 60 trucks a day, while the Escobedo plant will increase production to 58 trucks a day, Navistar said.