Volvo Trucks North America and the United Auto Workers union have reached a tentative agreement on a new five-year contract for nearly 3,000 employees, which ends a nearly two-week strike.
Production at Volvo’s New River Valley truck assembly plant in Dublin, Va., is expected to resume on Monday, May 3, according to both VTNA and the UAW, who both announced the end of the strike at 7 a.m. on April 30.
“UAW members showed incredible solidarity on the picket lines and have achieved significant gains toward fair pay, benefits and job security protections,” said Ray Curry, UAW secretary-treasurer and director of the UAW Heavy Truck Department.
VTNA declined to comment further, pending the final ratification of the contract with UAW Local No. 2069, which represents the roughly 2,900 employees at New River Valley.
Curry said it is withholding contract details until it can brief its members before a pending ratification vote in the coming days. “Ultimately it is our members’ contract, and UAW Volvo Truck members that will make this final decision as they vote,” Curry said.
Mack Trucks, which is also owned by Sweden-based Volvo AG, dealt with its own UAW worker strike in October 2019. That lasted for about two weeks.
According to Volvo, the NRV plant employs more than 3,300 people, about 2,900 of whom are UAW members. The plant is in the midst of receiving $400 million in advanced technology upgrades and site expansion to prepare for future products, including the Volvo VNR Electric truck, which is slated for the serial production launch this spring.
“Every day our UAW members leave their homes proud of the work they do at Volvo making some of the finest trucks in the world,” Mitchell Smith, director of UAW Region 8, said at the outset of the strike. “Our members and their families made this sacrifice in order to get a fair contract offer that protects their wages, benefits and health and safety.”
