Navistar International Corp. is closing its heavy truck assembly plant in Chatham, Ont., putting 2,200 staff on the street by early next summer as it transfers the work to Mexico.
The decision comes after a six-week strike earlier in the summer that led to conflict between union members and replacement workers brought in to keep the assembly lines running.
The strike ended in July after the Canadian Autoworkers Union asked Ford Motor Co., a Navistar customer, to intervene and use its influence to help settle the dispute.
CAW president Buzz Hargrove was quick to lash out at the decision to close the plant.
"Where the hell is Canada?" he asked. "It highlights once again that for the first time since the 1930s, we have no policy in this country."
Hargrove said Canada needs some kind of policy from the federal government to protect the domestic auto industry.
Navistar said in a statement that the closing is "a necessary step to address competitive market conditions."
In April Navistar told the CAW that, unless costs were cut by $28 million, the plant would close. Cost cuts of only $14 million were achieved before the union went on strike to block company demands for wage and other concessions.
"This decision was made only after exploring every available option to achieve the competitive cost structure needed, given industry demand," Steve Keate, president of the truck group at Navistar subsidiary International Truck and Engine Corp., said in a statement.
Hargrove said Navistar wouldn't have been able to close the plant if the 1965 Canada-U.S. auto pact was still in place. The pact required vehicle makers to assemble one vehicle in Canada for every one they sold here, among other conditions.
The pact was declared illegal under world trade laws by the World Trade Organization in 1999 and eliminated by Canada in 2000.
The decision comes after a six-week strike earlier in the summer that led to conflict between union members and replacement workers brought in to keep the assembly lines running.
The strike ended in July after the Canadian Autoworkers Union asked Ford Motor Co., a Navistar customer, to intervene and use its influence to help settle the dispute.
CAW president Buzz Hargrove was quick to lash out at the decision to close the plant.
"Where the hell is Canada?" he asked. "It highlights once again that for the first time since the 1930s, we have no policy in this country."
Hargrove said Canada needs some kind of policy from the federal government to protect the domestic auto industry.
Navistar said in a statement that the closing is "a necessary step to address competitive market conditions."
In April Navistar told the CAW that, unless costs were cut by $28 million, the plant would close. Cost cuts of only $14 million were achieved before the union went on strike to block company demands for wage and other concessions.
"This decision was made only after exploring every available option to achieve the competitive cost structure needed, given industry demand," Steve Keate, president of the truck group at Navistar subsidiary International Truck and Engine Corp., said in a statement.
Hargrove said Navistar wouldn't have been able to close the plant if the 1965 Canada-U.S. auto pact was still in place. The pact required vehicle makers to assemble one vehicle in Canada for every one they sold here, among other conditions.
The pact was declared illegal under world trade laws by the World Trade Organization in 1999 and eliminated by Canada in 2000.
