International Truck and Engine Corp. announced Sunday that members of Local 127 and Local 35 of the Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) have ratified new labor contracts that will run through June 30, 2009.

Navistar announced in February that the company's board of directors had approved the company's overall heavy truck strategy, which called for a total program investment of $300 million for the introduction of a new line-haul Class 8 truck. But at that time no decision had been made as to where the truck would be produced.
The new contracts maintain and improve manufacturing flexibility and provide for a purchased modular assembly strategy for the new line-haul truck scheduled to be introduced at Chatham, Ont., and go into production in January 2007.
"The new extended agreements represent the collaborative culture we are creating with our partners and create a cost competitive and high-quality environment in which to produce our new line-haul truck," said Dee Kapur, president of International's truck group. "The agreements ensure that Chatham will continue to be a significant source for our conventional heavy trucks."
Chatham currently produces 421 heavy trucks per week, or an average 84 trucks per day. Based on current demand, production is scheduled to increase to 110 units per day in late July following a scheduled two-week summer vacation shutdown.

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