With demand for heavy trucks increasing, International Truck and Engine announced Wednesday that it will resume production of conventional heavy trucks with a temporary workforce at its Chatham, Ontario, assembly plant, amid reports of a violent labor-related incident.

The Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) union Local 127 went on strike June 1 when the two sides failed to strike a deal on a new labor agreement. The strike affects approximately 645 CAW-represented production and maintenance employees at the plant.
The two sides held talks briefly on Tuesday and there are no new talks scheduled.
The company said it is still open to a dialogue with the union in order to return to productive negotiations, achieve a new labor contract and resume normal operations at Chatham with CAW members.
Since the beginning of the strike the company has increased production at its plant in Escobedo, N.L., Mexico.
"We had hoped to have an agreement by now, and have made every effort to do so, but we were not able to reach an agreement," said Steve Keate, president, Truck Group. “We now need to activate another element of our contingency plan, which is to resume production at Chatham now, using temporary workers.”
There have been reports of violence associated with the strike. The Windsor Star newspaper reported on Wednesday of clashes the day before between about 100 strikers and workers from a private security firm apparently hired by International. The guards were reportedly protecting buses used by the company to transport management and non-union personnel to and from the manufacturing facility.
Local police are investigating the incident, in which one of the security people was hit in the face.
International says prior to the strike, production at Chatham had been averaging 39 trucks per day on one shift, and it is expected to ramp up to a level of 60 per day. The Escobedo plant will continue to increase production to 58 units per day.