TULSA, Okla., May 5, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The City of
Tulsa is threatening to evict IC Bus from its school bus
manufacturing facility at the Tulsa International Airport, a move which
would cost the city and the state of Oklahoma 1,600 jobs.
IC Bus executives say in January
2020, the City of Tulsa, at
the direction of Mayor G.T. Bynum,
told IC Bus it was going to terminate the company's lease effective
Feb. 14, 2020. This eviction, only 20
years into the company's 40-year lease, would have resulted in the
immediate loss of 1,600 jobs. IC Bus requested additional time to
hold negotiations.
IC Bus executives now say they are at an impasse with the City
regarding this long-term lease for over 1 million square feet of
manufacturing space and are concerned that if a resolution cannot
be reached with Mayor Bynum and the City, the company will be
forced to relocate outside of Oklahoma.
"Over the past 20 years, we've been able to create 1,600
good-paying manufacturing jobs," said Phil
Christman, president of operations for Navistar
International Corporation (NYSE: NAV), the parent company of IC
Bus. "We spend $750 million each year
with vendors and suppliers, and support more than 100 local
businesses. We do not understand why City officials suddenly want
to break the long-term framework and threaten to evict us."
"We would like to get this matter resolved so we can stay in
Tulsa," Christman continued. "We
have a great workforce and, despite the current tough economic
conditions, we are continuing to operate and we have plans for
growth. The potential loss of 1,600 jobs in the current economic
environment makes no sense."
In addition to threatening to terminate the lease and evict IC
Bus, Mayor Bynum, chief of economic development Kian Kamas and
Mark Hogan, the City's director of
asset management, have demanded that the company spend
approximately $20 million on projects
by 2024, regardless of the company's maintenance schedule. The
Mayor and his team have also demanded a massive rent increase of
$28 million over the next ten
years.
Local Tulsa employees are being
encouraged to join a coalition, the "Save Tulsa Jobs" campaign,
www.savetulsajobs.com, where they and others can reach out to
elected officials and express their support for keeping IC Bus in
Tulsa.
In 1999, IC Bus and the City entered into a landmark agreement
for a 40-year lease to repurpose an abandoned bomber plant on Mingo
Road adjacent to the airport and transform it into a modern
manufacturing facility. The nearly mile-long, 1-million-square-foot
plant is the world's leading producer of school buses. IC Bus has
invested over $140 million in the
plant since it opened, including more than $48 million over the past five years.
"We have been doing everything in our power to protect the jobs
of the hardworking men and women whose livelihoods are being put at
risk. We must also ensure there is no disruption for our
customers," said Christman. "Our desire is to stay and grow in
Tulsa, but if local leaders will
not be reasonable and honor the terms of our lease, we will be
forced to take our plant and 1,600 manufacturing jobs to another
state where they will be appreciated."
The demands of the Mayor's office include:
- Replacing dormant freight elevators that are not used by IC Bus
with expensive new elevators that will not be used for the
foreseeable future by the plant.
- Requiring a complete repaving and resurfacing of driveways,
access roads and parking lots instead of maintenance and patch
repair.
- Immediately replacing more than 1,000 light fixtures in the
parking lots, office areas and on the manufacturing floor with LED
light bulbs, despite the fact that the plant retrofit and installed
high efficiency lighting several years ago and the fixtures are
less than halfway through their expected lifecycle.
- Accelerating beautification or vanity improvements such as
carpet and ceiling tile replacement, painting and numerous items
related to the look of the building's exterior.
"Our priority is to ensure the plant is safe and efficient so
that it can weather this economic climate, while providing
communities with the world's safest, most technologically advanced
school buses ever made," said Christman. "The City's demands to
divert capital away from our employees and manufacturing
operations, to meet beautification and other superficial goals made
up by City staff, is not appropriate, and it is certainly not worth
risking 1,600 jobs. We hope that the support of the community will
help forge a consensus allowing us to stay in Tulsa, rather than IC Bus being forced to make
long-term plans in another city out of state that will honor its
commitments and contracts."
The Tulsa IC Bus plant provides starting wages of approximately
$19 per hour, and experienced
workforce members make up to approximately $32 per hour. In total, the plant provides over
$60 million in direct income to local
workers annually, in addition to health care and retirement
benefits.
In addition to the $750 million
spent each year on vendors and suppliers, the IC Bus operation
generates new economic development by those suppliers. One IC Bus
supplier is building a 45,000-square-foot greenfield manufacturing
plant in Tulsa, specializing in
the manufacturing of seating systems, to support the assembly of
school buses at the IC Bus Plant.
Bus production is at its peak and approximately 75 vehicles are
typically completed daily. IC Bus is continuing its manufacturing
operations with enhanced safety protocols in place due to
COVID-19.
So far, the impasse has not disrupted any manufacturing
operations, and company officials are confident that this dispute
will not cause manufacturing delays for the foreseeable future. A
standstill agreement with the City expires on May 29, 2020. IC Bus hopes to reach a reasonable
resolution with the City before that date.
More information about the impasse can be found at
www.savetulsajobs.com or on Facebook at @SaveTulsaJobs.
About Navistar
Navistar International Corporation (NYSE: NAV) is a holding
company whose subsidiaries and affiliates produce
International® brand commercial trucks, proprietary
diesel engines, and IC Bus® brand school and commercial
buses. An affiliate also provides truck and diesel engine service
parts. Another affiliate offers financing services. Additional
information is available at www.Navistar.com.
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SOURCE Navistar International Corporation