Volvo Trucks to restart Va. factory as strike continues
NORFOLK, Va. – Volvo Trucks North America says some striking workers crossed picket lines Monday at a southwestern Virginia factory as the company plans to restart production.
Spokesman John Mies wouldn’t say how many United Auto Workers members went inside the factory in Dublin, Virginia, near Roanoke. But he says in an email that it will take a few days to get assembly lines back up and running at the plant, which employs 2,900 UAW workers.
Union members at the heavy truck assembly plant have voted down three tentative contract agreements reached with local union negotiators, with the most recent rejection coming on Friday. They initially went on strike in April.
UAW spokesman Brian Rothenberg said about 10 workers crossed the lines Monday morning, in addition to a “handful” of union workers who had gone to work earlier. He said he didn’t have exact numbers.
Both Volvo Trucks and Rothenberg say workers will vote again on the third agreement again on Wednesday. “Our final offer is on the table; it is the third tentative agreement,” Mies said in an email Monday.
Rothenberg said the union is researching legal options. He did not know if the company had enough workers to produce any trucks. He said in any strike, a small number of workers cross picket lines.
On Friday, Volvo trucks said in a statement that it will implement terms and conditions of the third agreement, reached with local union leaders on July 1. Returning employees “will immediately receive the wage increases and benefits outlined in the July 1 agreement, except for the ratification bonuses that would be paid on contract ratification,” the company said.
The previous contract, reached in 2016, was to have expired in mid-March. Negotiations began in February. Workers went on strike from April 17 to 30 and returned to work as they were voting on the first agreement. But members rejected that offer in May.
The company announced another six-year tentative agreement later that month, but it was rejected June 6.
Mies said Monday the company is focused on employee
training and equipment testing as it moves to restart assembly lines at the plant that makes semi tractors.
The recalcitrant strikers could be a sign that workers feel more emboldened because employers are having a hard time finding skilled workers.
“There’s less fear of never finding another job, and that does mean that the gamble for the membership is not as severe,” said Arthur Wheaton, a labor expert who teaches at Cornell University’s Worker Institute.
While workers may not find a job quite as good as the one they have at Volvo in southwestern Virginia, they could be thinking: “‘If they fire us or replace us, how many people have the skill set to build these heavy trucks? ... There’s not a lot of us around. And we think you’re gonna have to pay us.’ ”
Volvo could take a risk by hiring permanent employees to replace striking workers because the new workers may not be at the same skill level, he said. “They aren’t just building a little tiny golf cart. These things are huge, and they have a lot of parts to them.”