Navistar's Canadian workers approve two-year deal
Jul 16, 2002 12:00 PM
TORONTO - Workers at Navistar International Corp.'s Canadian heavy-truck plant overwhelmingly approved a new two-year contract on Monday ending a bitter six-week strike at the Chatham, Ontario, facility. The Canadian Auto Workers union said said about 81 percent of eligible voters, including laid off workers, at the plant in southwestern Ontario voted in favor of the deal, which included a guarantee the plant would not close for at least a year. The members of CAW Local 127 went on strike on June 1 after Warrenville, Illinois-based Navistar and the union could not hammer out an agreement before the May 31 midnight deadline. The key obstacle in reaching an agreement was the fragile future of the truck plant. The company said earlier this year it might close the plant, which makes 39 heavy trucks a day, if major cost savings were not found.
