Navistar's UAW employees approve four-year labor agreement

Navistar International Corp. employees represented by the United Auto Workers union approved a four-year contract, the maker of blast-resistant trucks for the U.S. military said.

The agreement replaces a labor contract that expired Oct. 1, the Warrenville-based company said in a statement yesterday. The union represents 2,000 of the company's workers at plants in Illinois, Ohio, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Texas and Indiana.

The contract gives the company the ability to change the type of vehicles that it produces at its plants instead of having dedicated facilities. It also allows a variable wage scale for new employees instead of a standard rate for all hires and shifts some of the company's health-care costs to employees.

“It will improve the operating structure and flexibility at our UAW-represented facilities to better compete in today's market,” Chief Executive Officer Daniel Ustian said in the statement.

Christine Moroski, a spokeswoman for the UAW, and Roy Wiley, a spokesman for Navistar, didn't immediately return calls seeking specifics on the contract.

The deal was reached earlier this month and ratified by a majority of union members, the company said. Navistar employs 16,000 workers worldwide.

The maker of International-brand trucks rose 2.5 percent to $48.18 on Oct. 29. The shares have rallied to 25 percent this year, trailing the 32 percent advance for automobile and parts makers in the Standard & Poor's 500 Index.

Trucks accounted for 58 percent of Navistar sales last year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Engines were 23 percent and parts were 17 percent. Eighty percent of sales were in the U.S., the data show.