Top Navistar, Union Officials to Meet in Detroit

CHICAGO, Oct 8, 2002 Reuters reported that truck maker Navistar International Corp. said late Tuesday its president and chief operating officer will meet with a top official of the United Auto Workers in Detroit to try to break a stalemate in contract talks.

Navistar President and Chief Operating Officer Dan Ustian will fly to Detroit on Wednesday to meet with UAW Vice President Nate Gooden, head of the union's DaimlerChrysler and heavy trucks departments, a Navistar spokesman said.

Company and union negotiators have been meeting since July 24 to hammer out a new labor agreement for about 7,200 workers at Navistar plants in Springfield, Ohio, Indianapolis, Indiana, Melrose Park, Illinois, and other facilities.

The workers' three-year contract expired on Oct. 1 but has been extended on a day-to-day basis as the talks continue, with main negotiations between the company and the union's policy committee continuing in Louisville, Kentucky.

"We are doing everything possible to find common ground to make discussions productive," Navistar spokesman Roy Wiley told Reuters. "The issues are extremely difficult. We have serious gaps."

Union officials did not immediately return calls.

UAW officials have said Navistar is seeking bigger employee contributions for health care, no increase in pension benefits, lower starting pay for new employees and mandatory overtime. The union wants pension and wage increases.

Wiley declined to comment on the two sides' specific demands.

The contract talks at Navistar come at a time when a slump in orders for heavy-duty trucks is expected to follow the surge in demand that preceded the Oct. 1 deadline for truck engines to meet tough new federal pollution standards.