Union Strikes Volvo Truck Plant in Va.
Move Halts N. American Production
By Frederick Kiel, Staff Reporter
This story appears in the Feb. 11 print edition of Transport Topics.
About 2,500 members of United Auto Workers walked off their jobs at the only Volvo-Mack over-the-road assembly plant in North America, shutting down production Feb. 1, after the union and Volvo Trucks North America failed to agree on a new contract.
Picket lines stopped work at VTNA’s New River Valley Plant in Dublin, Va., immediately after the old three-year pact expired at midnight Jan. 31. The factory builds Volvo VT, VN and VHD trucks and Mack Trucks’ Pinnacle, its highway vehicle.
Volvo said the strike would not immediately affect customer deliveries but that the company was considering ways to resume production.
Volvo is “considering a variety of options to keep the plant running as close to full production as possible, as soon as possible,” spokesman James McNamara said Feb. 7.
“While it depends upon the specifications a customer desires, we don’t see any negative impact on availability for the time being,” he said.
Lester Hancock, president of UAW Local 2069, told TT, “The plant is not operating.”
“We have put up three separate picket lines at each of the three main entrances at the plant, and we’ll be keeping them up 24/7, including weekends,” Hancock said.
The company and union said negotiations for a new contract had begun Jan. 8 and continued up to the Feb. 1 deadline.
“We regret that the UAW has decided to take this action,” Per Carlsson, VTNA’s chief executive officer, said in a statement. “Volvo Trucks is committed to the collective bargaining process, and we will continue to bargain in good faith until an agreement can be achieved.”
Volvo and Mack engines for North America are assembled in the company’s Hagerstown, Md., plant, which was not affected by the strike, Mack spokesman John Walsh said.
Both Volvo and Mack declined to say how many trucks the Dublin plant was making, but union leader Hancock said, “We were producing about 140 trucks a day, with two shifts, when we went on strike. Maybe 45 to 48 were [Mack] Pinnacles, and the rest were Volvos.”
Chris Fisher, senior commercial vehicle analyst at Power Systems Research, said the strike “will definitely put a bite on both companies, since that’s where they make all their over-the-road tractors.”
“The only thing in their favor is that dealer inventory is still fairly high, much higher than normal,” Fisher told TT. “People will be able to buy a Volvo or Mack over-the-road, but if the strike goes on, the number of available options will drop, and that could hurt.”
VTNA and Mack, are both subsidiaries of Volvo AB.
“Regarding negotiations, the UAW has cut off the talks and has left the table,” McNamara told TT. “If it were up to us, we would still be discussing the issues.”
In reply to the statement that UAW left the table, Hancock said Volvo “had plenty of opportunities and would not proceed to talk in a reasonable manner, so at midnight, we informed them we were going to go on strike.”
This story appears in the Feb. 11 print edition of Transport Topics.
About 2,500 members of United Auto Workers walked off their jobs at the only Volvo-Mack over-the-road assembly plant in North America, shutting down production Feb. 1, after the union and Volvo Trucks North America failed to agree on a new contract.
Picket lines stopped work at VTNA’s New River Valley Plant in Dublin, Va., immediately after the old three-year pact expired at midnight Jan. 31. The factory builds Volvo VT, VN and VHD trucks and Mack Trucks’ Pinnacle, its highway vehicle.
Volvo said the strike would not immediately affect customer deliveries but that the company was considering ways to resume production.
Volvo is “considering a variety of options to keep the plant running as close to full production as possible, as soon as possible,” spokesman James McNamara said Feb. 7.
“While it depends upon the specifications a customer desires, we don’t see any negative impact on availability for the time being,” he said.
Lester Hancock, president of UAW Local 2069, told TT, “The plant is not operating.”
“We have put up three separate picket lines at each of the three main entrances at the plant, and we’ll be keeping them up 24/7, including weekends,” Hancock said.
The company and union said negotiations for a new contract had begun Jan. 8 and continued up to the Feb. 1 deadline.
“We regret that the UAW has decided to take this action,” Per Carlsson, VTNA’s chief executive officer, said in a statement. “Volvo Trucks is committed to the collective bargaining process, and we will continue to bargain in good faith until an agreement can be achieved.”
Volvo and Mack engines for North America are assembled in the company’s Hagerstown, Md., plant, which was not affected by the strike, Mack spokesman John Walsh said.
Both Volvo and Mack declined to say how many trucks the Dublin plant was making, but union leader Hancock said, “We were producing about 140 trucks a day, with two shifts, when we went on strike. Maybe 45 to 48 were [Mack] Pinnacles, and the rest were Volvos.”
Chris Fisher, senior commercial vehicle analyst at Power Systems Research, said the strike “will definitely put a bite on both companies, since that’s where they make all their over-the-road tractors.”
“The only thing in their favor is that dealer inventory is still fairly high, much higher than normal,” Fisher told TT. “People will be able to buy a Volvo or Mack over-the-road, but if the strike goes on, the number of available options will drop, and that could hurt.”
VTNA and Mack, are both subsidiaries of Volvo AB.
“Regarding negotiations, the UAW has cut off the talks and has left the table,” McNamara told TT. “If it were up to us, we would still be discussing the issues.”
In reply to the statement that UAW left the table, Hancock said Volvo “had plenty of opportunities and would not proceed to talk in a reasonable manner, so at midnight, we informed them we were going to go on strike.”
