Volvo Trucks North America and the United Auto Workers reached a tentative agreement on July 1 for a new, six-year contract that would cover approximately 2,900 employees at the New River Valley (NRV) truck assembly operations in Dublin, Virginia, where the Volvo VNR Electric will be produced.
In a statement, Volvo Trucks said:
If ratified by the UAW membership, this agreement would: eliminate the two-tier wage structure; immediately take any employee currently in wage progression and hired on or before June 30, 2015 to top pay; institute a six-year progression to top pay for all employees, giving credit for years of active service; increase the new hire starting pay by more than 14 percent; and guarantee no increases in health insurance premiums over the life of the contract for the plant’s best-in-class health insurance coverage, an employee benefit which represents a cost of more than $20,000 a year per employee.
The Volvo Group is the only heavy-duty truck manufacturing group that assembles all of its trucks and engines for the North American market in the United States. 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 innovative Volvo VNR Electric truck. The plant has added 1,100 jobs since the current union agreement was implemented in 2016 and is on track to have a net increase of approximately 600 positions in 2021.
UAW Local 2069 will remain on the picket lines until the ratification vote, expected to occur on July 9, according to the group's Facebook page.
“UAW members and their families felt strongly about the need for financial stability gains in this contract and were willing to strike not once, but twice, to achieve those gains. The elected bargaining team of the UAW Volvo Truck Council worked very hard to achieve these significant gains and they could not have achieved them without the solidarity of Local 2069 members,” said Ray Curry, UAW President and Director of the UAW Heavy Truck Department. “This contract reflects significant gains from the prior two tentative agreements.”
UAW Region 8 concurred that the strike yielded positive results for the workers.
“Our members stood up for more substantial gains, and those were achieved,” said Mitchell Smith, director of UAW Region 8. “The process of solidarity and member involvement in this contract has resulted in significant gains for all UAW members at Volvo Truck. I’m so proud of our members and their families for standing together to make these significant gains.”
In April, the UAW walked away from the negotiating table leading to a two-week strike. Workers returned to work on May 3, but the five-year contract was rejected by union members on May 16. A second contract was voted down on June 6, with 90% against accepting the deal.
