Representatives of Navistar did not respond to a request for comment from the News-Sun regarding Brown’s letter.
Navistar, which builds medium-duty trucks on its main line in Springfield, laid off at least 126 assembly production workers during the month of September after reducing the total number of trucks built on its main line from 117 to 97 per day.
The company reduced truck production on that line again this month from 97 to 70 units per day. That decision led to at least 132 more workers being laid off during a two week period. That does not include the 92 workers who were laid off at the plant in November and December due to the elimination of a second shift in several non-production departments.
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Local union representatives told the News-Sun at the time that those lay off figures only related to members of UAW Local 402, which represents assembly production workers as well as those listed under skilled trades at the Springfield Plant.
“Navistar employees and the entire community are concerned that these layoffs may be an indication of Navistar’s lack of commitment to Springfield,” Brown said in his letter to Navistar.
The News-Sun reported in 2019 that the number of medium and heavy-duty trucks being built have surpassed demand nationally. Some companies are beginning to adjust their production rates as a result.
“In order to realign production with the current demand for our products, we will be adjusting line rates at our Springfield Assembly plant. This action is normal due to the cyclical nature of our business,” said Navistar spokesperson Lyndi McMillan in an email to the News-Sun earlier this month.
In addition to mentioning the recent round of layoffs at the plant in his letter, Brown also stated that workers from the Springfield plant had informed his office that as of last fall they were no longer making trucks there for the postal service. Those trucks have typically been made at the facility in the past, Brown said he was told.
Instead, he said workers told his office that those trucks were now being made in Mexico and that Springfield workers had sent decals for the Mexican facility to affix to the trucks.
“In response to this news, my office contacted your company and the USPS to determine why the truck production was offshored,” the letter stated. “Your company stated that the reason for the shift in production to Mexico was because of the General Motors strike, which had disrupted the supply chain.”
Navistar also builds trucks and vans for GM at its Springfield plant. Navistar’s Springfield operation temporarily ceased production in following a nationwide strike at GM that started in September and lasted six weeks.
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Brown stated that the postal service told his office that Navistar had a contract to produce tractor trucks for them, but only 590 of those units were to be made in Mexico “to ensure that company could meet the Postal Service’s delivery deadline.”
The letter also mentioned that USPS stated that the contract is for 1,579 tractor trucks and that “the balance before and after will be satisfied as planned from the Ohio facility.”
However, Brown said that discussions with employees at the Springfield plant revealed that they believed “approximately half of the USPS tractor truck order has been assembled in Springfield; 30 percent has already been assembled in Mexico; and the remaining 20 percent is scheduled to be produced in Mexico.”
Chris Blizard, the president of UAW Local 402, did not respond to a request for comment from the News-Sun as of Monday afternoon.
“This is different than the information I received from the USPS, and it suggests that Navistar could have returned production of the USPS trucks to Springfield after the GM strike but chose not to,” Brown said. “I am particularly concerned about the decision to offshore the USPS tractor production in light of the company’s decision to lay off 300 Springfield workers since September, 2019…..”
Brown ended is letter with 10 questions to the company regarding the layoffs as well as the Postal Service order. He asked for a response in writing from the company by Feb. 14.
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