Navistar International Corp. will scale back production and could lay off as many as 500 workers at its Ontario, Canada, truck plant, the Canadian Press reported Thursday.
About 470 employees from the company’s truck plant in Chatham, Ontario, were handed layoff notices Wednesday, and the cuts will begin Jan. 31 and leave the plant with about 400 employees, CP said.
Navistar spokesman Roy Wiley confirmed to Transport Topics that the company gave the notices, though he said no final layoff numbers had been decided.
He said the Chatham plant turned out about 100 Class 8s a day, down from 200 in the boom year of 2006.
A Canadian Auto Workers union spokesman told TT the plant’s 100-truck-per-day production could be cut in half, while Wiley said the exact figure depends on the company’s orders.
Navistar produces the International truck brand.