A UAW strike that began early last month at Volvo’s largest truck plant is coming to an end after workers there ratified a contract Wednesday.
The approval of a six-year contract at the plant in southwestern Virginia came after three previous votes on tentative agreements were rejected by the members.
This time, workers were asked to vote on the same agreement they’d rejected less than a week ago.
The ongoing drama, which had included an earlier strike during negotiations, was seen as a test for UAW President Ray Curry, who is also the director of the union’s Heavy Truck Department. Curry only recently took over the UAW’s top leadership post following the retirement of Rory Gamble, and the rejection of multiple tentative agreements endorsed by UAW officials exposed divisions between not only the company and its workers but also between union leaders and their members who wanted a better deal.
The approval on Wednesday followed a more assertive push by Volvo. The company, which is based in Sweden, announced over the weekend that it intended to restart production and would implement the terms and conditions of the last tentative agreement at the beginning of the week. In addition, the company had essentially encouraged workers to cross the picket line so they could “immediately” receive wage increases and benefits from the agreement. Workers on the picket line receive strike pay of $275 per week.
In a union statement after the ratification, Curry highlighted the “democratic process” at work.
“The democratic process played out at Volvo Trucks. UAW members stood together through their strike and now the overall agreement and hourly agreement have been ratified despite the company’s actions earlier in the week,” Curry said in a news release.
Mitchell Smith, director of UAW Region 8, said in the release that the local members and their families had “received an outpouring of support from the community and supporters throughout the United States and other countries,” which had helped sustain them during the strike.
The UAW represents about 2,900 of the 3,300 workers at Volvo’s New River Valley plant in Dublin, Virginia. The union said members would return to work on their Sunday and Monday shifts.
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Plant Vice President and General Manager Franky Marchand said the deal delivers “significant wage gains and first-class benefits” for workers.
“We need to safeguard our future, and start building trucks for the many customers and dealers whose businesses and livelihoods depend on our products,” Marchand said in a news release. “We look forward to welcoming employees back to the plant, and to getting back to building the industry’s best heavy-duty trucks.”
Despite the approval of the overall agreement and language affecting hourly workers, salaried workers at the plant rejected their portion. The UAW said in a news release that the UAW constitution provides a process to address their concerns.
The margin for the voting was tight, with the common and hourly portions each passing by 17 votes and the salaried portion rejected by 14 votes. The common portion, for instance, passed on a vote of 1,193 to 1,176, according to a posting on the Facebook page of UAW Local 2069.
Union and company releases said the deal includes pay increases, a ratification bonus, elimination of a two-tier wage structure and no increase in health insurance premiums. Workers who have talked to the Free Press had expressed concern about the cost of health insurance, retiree health care and pay that doesn’t keep pace with the cost of living.
Contact Eric D. Lawrence: elawrence@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter: @_ericdlawrence. Become a subscriber.