International Truck and Engine Corp. and the United Auto Workers union have reached a tentative agreement on new three-year labor contracts, the company announced today.

The tentative agreement is subject to ratification through a majority vote by the UAW members at the affected locations. Voting will likely be scheduled for this weekend. If ratified, the new contracts would replace the five-year agreements that expired Oct. 1, 2007.
For more than two years, International has been engaged intermittently in bargaining with the UAW, attempting to reach agreement on changes that would achieve two company goals: improve the competitiveness of International's UAW-represented facilities and maintain a good quality of life for employees and retirees.
While no details of the tentative agreement will be communicated publicly prior to completion of the ratification vote, UAW officials say the agreement protects jobs, wages and health care benefits, and also includes a moratorium on outsourcing, plant closures, spin-offs or sales during the term of the agreement.
"Job security was the top priority for our members at ITE," said UAW President Ron Gettelfinger. "The bargainers held firm in insisting on these moratoriums that will benefit not only themselves, but also the communities where they live and work."
The current round of negotiations opened on Aug. 27. On Oct. 23, the UAW called a strike at the nine company locations that are covered by the expired contracts. Navistar shifted customer orders to International's other locations for production to be completed.
The UAW represents approximately 3,700 employees at nine International Truck and Engine facilities in Indianapolis, (engine assembly and foundry), Melrose Park, Ill. (engine assembly and engine engineering), Springfield, Ohio (truck assembly), Atlanta, York (Pa.) and Dallas (parts distribution centers) and Fort Wayne, Ind. (truck engineering). Total worldwide employment at the company is 16,000.