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March 1, 2001 2:20 PM, EST

A threatened strike at a plant owned by Latin American commercial truck maker Consorcio Grupo Dina, has been postponed until March 20.

Originally scheduled for Feb. 7 at Dina’s Sahagun City, Hidalgo, Mexico plant, the strike deadline was extended by Mexico’s Labor Department.

Dina has maintained that it is unable to grant the 40% wage increase demanded by the union because of its financial condition, which last month forced it to default on the interest payment on its 8% convertible subordinated debentures.

The company’s difficulties became apparent last July, when it missed an interest payment on its commercial paper.

The problems were exacerbated when Freightliner Corp. canceled a contract for the delivery of 9,000 class 7 trucks that Dina had with Western Star Trucks before Freightliner acquired Western Star. Dina had already delivered 600 trucks under the contract.

In response to the cancellation, Dina is suing Western Star, claiming breach of contract.

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