Navistar International Corp said it will eliminate 1,851 jobs at its Springfield OH truck factory - or about 10% of the company's total workforce - over the next three years. Although it plans to build a new line of medium-duty trucks at that plant, part of the production process will be automated.
This announcement came a day after the company said it is taking a pretax charge of about $300 million in the fiscal fourth quarter to reorganize and pay for new products.
The workforce reductions, which the company said should be completed by Oct 31, 2003, represent about 39% of the Springfield plant's current workers. The United Auto Workers union (UAW) said it became aware of the potential cuts in 1997.
The union contract expires Oct 1, 2002, so an undisclosed number of jobs will be lost through attrition, Navistar spokesman Roy Wiley said.
Navistar, which employs about 18,000 people, will begin making the medium-duty trucks in February 2001. The Springfield plant's workforce is currently 4,729 employees.
