Tag Archives: CAW

06.02.10
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Bottom line is Navistar employees want to go back to work

Navistar workers in Chatham are only asking for decency, respect and a job. And, they’re at a point in their battle where they need the power of the government to step up to the plate.

“For the last 10 years, International Truck was the top employer in Chatham-Kent,” said CAW president Ken Lewenza. “And for the last 10 years, those employees gave back to their community.”

Now, those workers need that same community to support them, he said.

“This is not a fight for CAW. This is a fight for our jobs. This is a fight for the future,” he said.

Full story

05.26.10
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Union blames feds and province for Navistar plant closure

The federal and provincial governments are to blame for the closure of a local truck assembly plant by not insisting on job guarantees when they turned over millions to Navistar, says Bob Chernecki.

The top CAW official said Tuesday the two levels of government gave Chicago-based Navistar more than $63 million to keep the doors open at Chatham-Kent’s major employer but failed to ensure job guarantees as part of the deal.

Chernecki, in a telephone interview, said CAW employees at the facility also provided the company with more than $40 million in concessions.

“The company has turned around and slapped all of us in the face — CAW members, the community and the governments — by tabling a new deal that would provide less than 100 jobs in the plant,” he said.

Chernecki said the CAW and the company are at a “clear impasse.”
full story

03.14.10
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Idle Chatham plant gets little hope from Navistar

Top Navistar officials talked about brighter profit prospects Wednesday but offered no new insight on the future of the company’s idle truck assembly plant in Chatham that has kept employees off the job for almost 8 1/2 months.

Many Navistar employees, who earned an average of about $24 an hour, have started to look for new work or careers because of the lengthy shutdown and no sign of a resumption of operations, according to union officials.

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12.25.09
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Navistar content to keep its Ontario workers idling

Navistar Inc. plans to keep its heavy truck assembly plant in Chatham idle “for now,” but the company’s top official isn’t giving any sign that it will reopen.

Dan Ustian, the company’s chairman and chief executive, told analysts Tuesday that the company has wrestled with the issue for several months but still has made no final decision on whether to close the plant in southwestern Ontario.

The plant has not produced a vehicle in almost six months after 350 employees were laid off and negotiations with the Canadian Auto Workers for a new contract hit an impasse. The shutdown is also adversely affecting numerous suppliers and their workforces.
Full story

Posted by Ian:
On Sept. 4, 2003 International Truck and Engine Corporation announced it would keep its Chatham, Ontario plant open and maintain a production schedule of heavy trucks, as the result of a long-term investment by the company, Government of Canada and the Province of Ontario. Another promise not worth the paper it was written on. Here is the full transcript of that 2003 company release.

11.30.09
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All is quiet on the Navistar front

When and if Navistar’s idled Richmond Street truck plant re-opens remain in serious doubt.

No new talks are scheduled despite a willingness by the Canadian Auto Worker’s union and the company to return to the bargaining table.

The plant’s 350 workers have been idled since the June 30th expiration of a three-year contract.

A brief meeting in Windsor two weeks ago between both sides was just that — brief.

“The company is sticking to its original proposal to greatly downsize the Chatham operation,” said national CAW representative Joe McCabe.

McCabe admitted the lengthy closure of one of Chatham-Kent’s largest manufacturing facilities is creating a huge financial burden for its unemployed workers and the community in general.
Full story

11.21.09
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St. Thomas/Elgin needs to go green to jump-start economy, says Jack Layton

From the Times-Journal:
An industrial strategy, taking aim at eco-friendly jobs and technology, is what’s needed to help the flagging economy in Elgin-St. Thomas.
So said federal NDP leader Jack Layton who, Friday, met with a dozen local labour leaders, including representatives from Ford’s St. Thomas Assembly Plant, at the CAW Hall, north of Talbotville.
Irene Mathyssen, NDP MP for London-Fanshawe, attended as well.
“The message is unanimous: Manufacturing is in a crisis here and the federal government just doesn’t understand the magnitude of it,” Layton said. “What we need is an industrial strategy that’s going to put this, (the) best manufacturing work force in the world, back to work.”
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11.07.09
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London seeking $150 million offered Ford Canada’s St. Thomas Assembly Plant

Posted by Ian: St. Thomas and Elgin county lose the Ford plant and as a result the economic impact will be compounded via support operations like Lear Seating, trucking companies and CN who relied heavily on the St. Thomas Assembly Plant and yet London wants the entire $150 million offered by the province for its own benefit. It’s bad enough we have to deal with the London-centered school board and St. Joseph’s Health Centre for psychiatric services. However, you can ask the question, why didn’t St. Thomas staff and administration beat London to the punch? Or is that because they have no long-term economic plan in place. Where is the Economic Development Corp. and the Chamber of Commerce in this dark chapter? London is taking concrete steps to diversify its economy (read agri-business and digital media), while in St. Thomas we’re still trying to entice an automaker to locate here. Following is the full story from the London Free Press …

The City of London is going after $150 million the Ontario government is believed to have offered to save Ford of Canada’s St. Thomas assembly plant, Mayor Anne Marie DeCicco-Best said.

The city and region could use the cash to fund a host of ambitious economic development schemes, she said.

“We continue to be impacted in a severe way. If there is money for the plant, then surely there must be money to invest in initiatives we are looking at.”

Ford Motor Co. will close the St. Thomas plant in September 2011, cutting 1,600 jobs when it ends production of the Lincoln Town Car, Mercury Grand Marquis and Crown Victoria.
Full story

11.04.09
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A future without Ford – the new reality

By Kyle Rea
St. Thomas Times-Journal
As fallout continues from the news that Ford’s St. Thomas Assembly Plant will shut its doors in fall 2011, three of the biggest casualties locally — Southwold township, the Lear Seating plant and the Elgin-St. Thomas United Way — are taking a look at a future without the plant.
Last Friday, leaders of the Canadian Auto Workers union confirmed what has long been suspected, that the St. Thomas Ford facility will shut its doors in September, 2011, as the company looks to phase out production of the large cars manufactured there — the Crown Victoria, Lincoln Town Car and Grand Marquis. When that happens, 1,400 people will lose their jobs.
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11.03.09
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Ford turns up nose at unprecedented offer to save St. Thomas Assembly Plant

In a last-ditch effort to save the St. Thomas assembly plant, the province and Canadian Auto Workers made offers of cash and unprecedented concessions — but Ford Motor Co. said no.

The province offered as much as $150 million and the union told the company to cherry-pick details of any collective agreement and put it on the table, CAW national president Ken Lewenza said yesterday.

“(Ford of Canada vice-president) Joe Hendricks told me directly he could not get a better deal from any government than the one the Ontario government was prepared to put in front of Ford Motor Co. He was clear about that,” Lewenza said. “They were prepared to do more than any jurisdiction in the world. The Ontario government was prepared to be a major player.”

Instead, Ford will close the St. Thomas assembly plant in September 2011, cutting 1,600 jobs.

Full story