24 July 2010
Thanks to a new five-year contract agreement between Navistar International Corp. and the United Auto Workers (UAW) union’s Indianapolis Casting Corp. (ICC) has earned another reprieve. The contract covers 250 workers, about half as many as were employed there about 18 months ago when Navistar first announced its intent to close the ferrous foundry. In January 2009 Navistar announced its intent to close the foundry by last July. That was the result of the end of ICC’s 30-year supply agreement with Ford Motor Co., which ended in a legal dispute as Ford reassigned its diesel engine block sourcing. The UAW agreed to the contract in order preserve the jobs, with a proposal that came after the local union had already agreed to the shutdown. The new contract cuts workers’ wages, vacation time, and holidays, but preserves a number of positions for production workers and skilled tradesmen. For the next four to six months, though, the foundry will be idle. Navistar will recall workers, as needed, according to seniority, as it works through an inventory of finished work built up over recent months.
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