Navistar to invest $125 million in Huntsville factory
Navistar, maker of commercial trucks and buses, has decided to make capital investments of approximately $125 million in new and expanded manufacturing facilities in Alabama, it announced today. The investment will bring 145 additional jobs to the company’s Huntsville facility. The company, which already manufactures International brand diesel engines in Huntsville, plans to make the new investments over the next three years. Its intent is to produce next-generation big-bore powertrains developed with its global partner TRATON. – News release
Birmingham Airport Authority wins Inclusion Champion award
The Birmingham Airport Authority was honored at a national conference Thursday night with an Inclusion Champion Award. The Airports Council International-North America (ACI-NA) honored the recipients of the 2019 ACI-NA Inclusion Champion Awards during a dinner at the ACI-NA Business of Airports Conference in Scottsdale, Ariz. – AL.com
Governor, state officials in Paris for air show
The Alabama business development team entered Day 1 of the 2019 Paris Air Show with a slate of appointments with major aerospace companies that could have the state in their future growth plans. “We begin Day 1 of the air show with the goal of working with the governor to connect with a number of companies,” said Greg Canfield, secretary of the Alabama Department of Commerce. – Made In Alabama
Alabama retail sales up significantly this year
Retail sales in Alabama this April were the strongest since 2006, according to the Alabama Department of Revenue. And sales growth exceeded double digits, with consumers spending nearly 11 percent more with the state’s retailers than in April 2018. A change in state law also resulted in a huge increase in online-only sales taxes. – AL.com
New poll suggests 75 percent of voters support more renewable energy
A recent statewide poll found that 75 percent of registered Alabama voters support the expansion of renewable energy in Alabama. Support for more renewable energy is consistent regardless of party affiliation, geographic location or race. When asked about the energy currently being used in Alabama, 46 percent of poll respondents said that we are not using enough renewable energy. – Alabama Political Reporter
UAW vote again rejected at Tennessee Volkswagen plant
For the second time in recent years, autoworkers at a Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga, Tenn., have narrowly voted against forming a union. It was the difference of 57 votes. Preliminary results show that over three days of voting, 776 workers backed the union, but 833 voted it down. The outcome is seen as the latest blow against organized labor in the South, where union advocates have tried for years to strengthen representation in auto facilities amid a shrinking union membership base and fierce opposition from many top lawmakers. – NPR
