In fact, the legal warning notifying state officials of a possible strike has already been given. The deadline to reach an agreement is midnight Thursday.

Workers are bracing for the worst but hoping for the best. Union officials said contract talks will continue up until the last minute.

Navistar was once the pride of Clark County, employing nearly 6,000 people. The Navistar plant now has almost 500 workers, 400 of which could be out of work come Monday.

One woman News Center 7 spoke to worries about the trickle down effect.

"It's going to hurt Springfield. I don't know what the answer is. Its not just going to affect 400 people, it's going to affect 4,000," Kathy Giffort said.

The union and the company have been in negotiations for weeks. Union reps said if an agreement is not made, there will be several possible reactions.

Dick Severs said, "Could call a strike. We could extend and keep working under the old contract. Right now, we're planning to work on Friday and a mandatory for some departments on Saturday. After that, we're just going to wait."

If a contract is reached by the deadline, it would prevent a work stoppage on Monday and the agreement would still have to be approved.

"It's voted on by all UAW plants. If it fails chain-wide, they would go back to start talking again to find something we call agree on," Severs said.

Severs is optimistic but said there are some definite sticking points. "I know there's a lot of trouble with health care, we understand that. But, we've already given a lot to offset our health care costs. There's a lot of issues, you know."