UAW members strike Navistar

>Archive - PWW Print Edition Archive - 2007 Editions - Nov. 3, 2007


 

Four thousand UAW members at 11 local unions in six states have been on strike since Oct. 23 against International Truck and Engine, maker of Navistar trucks, in response to the company’s unfair labor practices.

“The company moved our work to Mexico and to nonunion plants in Texas, cancelled our supplemental unemployment benefits and ignored our job security program,” said General Holiefield, UAW vice president and head of the union’s trucking division.

Mike, who wished to be identified only by his first name, is a member of UAW Local 98 in Indianapolis, Ind. He and other autoworkers talked to the World last week outside the local union hall. He said the workers “had to take a stand” not only for themselves at their company but for all autoworkers at GM, Chrysler and Ford.

The workers told the World that the company had ordered an illegal lockout of employees at the Springfield, Ohio, plant and that at their Indiana plant Navistar has ignored a master recall list that was part of the latest contract. The company is flouting past practice by hiring temporary employees to replace workers who retire and to fill in for full-timers who take sick leave or vacation.