Nearly 3,000 United Auto Workers union members rejected a second tentative long-term labor agreement with Volvo Trucks North America, the OEM announced on Sunday, June 6.
The UAW Local No. 2069 represents about 2,900 workers at VTNA’s New River Valley (NRV) truck assembly operations in Dublin, Virginia. Negotiations on a new contract began in Feburary before breaking down in April. That led to a two-week strike at the plant.
Both VTNA and the UAW announced a tentative five-year labor agreement on April 30, which ended the strike, and union members returned to work on May 3. Union members, however, rejected that contract offer on May 16. The two sides returned to the bargaining table and came up with a new six-year labor agreement.
UAW Local No. 2069 members on Sunday, June 6, overwhelmingly rejected the six-year offer with 90% voting against the deal, according to a UAW Facebook post.
“It is difficult to understand this action,” Franky Marchand, VTNA’s New River Valley VP and general manager, said in a June 7 statement. “UAW international, regional, and local leadership endorsed the tentative agreement, which provided significant economic improvements for all UAW-represented workers, and a package of benefits that is very competitive for our industry and region. We remain committed to the collective bargaining process, and we are confident that we will ultimately arrive at a mutually beneficial agreement.”
The NRV plant employs more than 3,300 people, about 2,900 of whom are UAW members. The plant is in the midst of a $400 million investment for advanced technology upgrades, site expansion, and preparation for future products, including the Volvo VNR Electric truck. The plant has added 1,100 jobs since the last union agreement was implemented in 2016 and is on track to have a net increase of approximately 600 positions in 2021, according to VTNA.
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.
“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.”
