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| Volvo Strike Is Over |
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| Written by David Grimes | |
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UAW Local 2069 voted Saturday night to approve a new 3-year contract and end the seven-week long strike at the New River Valley Volvo plant in Dublin.
According to Lester Hancock, President of the Local 2069 union, 90 percent of the membership approved the new contract.
"We got our safety and health issues resolved," said Hancock. "Also, Volvo has agreed to remove all of the Cadmium material from within the plant."
Volvo spokesman John Mies released the following statement Saturday night, "Volvo Trucks North America today announced that employees represented by the United Auto Workers have ratified a new three-year agreement covering about 2,600 members of UAW Local #2069 at the New River Valley, VA, plant. The new contract takes effect on March 17, and will expire on March 16, 2011. The agreement ends the UAW strike that began on February 1.
“This agreement will help us improve the competitiveness of our NRV plant, while continuing to provide our employees with a very competitive package of wages and benefits,” said Per Carlsson, president and CEO of Volvo Trucks North America. “Our focus now is on getting trucks to our customers as soon as possible, and strengthening our relationship with our NRV employees.”
Employees will return to work on March 24, when the plant will begin ramping up to an average daily production rate of 146 vehicles a day.
Photo: (Top left) This entrance to the New River Valley Volvo Plant on Cougar Trail, which for the last seven weeks was occupied by striking union members, is now empty. (Photo by Larry Middleton)
Comments (5)
  written by Jerry Frech, March 16, 2008
Back when ths first started my wife and I were driving by and took some photos as part of our photo-journalism class, we go to Bluefield College, and we were wondering how things panned out. We are glad to see you are back to work and it looks like you will have a safer place to work now.
Still at 2% raise annually Volvo is getting a bargain. Yet we thought we'd let you know we were praying for you guys and telling the locals here what's been going on up there. Again congrats and have a safe day. report abuse
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 written by Christy Quesenberry, March 16, 2008
Amen. Thank you to all who supported the UAW workers. I hope that the return to work will be peaceful and life can go back to normal.
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Votes: +18
 written by chrisa5, March 16, 2008
I would like to say thank you to the bargaining committee for the work they did with this contract. It’s good to see that people can stick together and get something done. I would like to thank everyone, from Lester all the way down to all my co-workers, who all stood together in the cold, rain, sleet, snow, wind, and some of the critisism that we’ve faced from people who were against us and just “didn’t get” what it was all about. Also would like to thank all the people who supported us who didn’t have to. People who donated and gave on down to the ones who were just kind enough to blow their horn or throw up their hand. We will try to give as much back as you gave to us. Thanks!!
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 written by citizen, March 15, 2008
I am proud of the entire community! Volvo, North America, "won," along with the other "winners"...the UAW members/workers, UAW sponsors (that wanted Volvo to benefit, also), families, and the community. ONLY in America can there be dialogue and eventual agreement, without supreme regrets. Congratulations to all!
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Sir James Matthew Barrie was a Scottish novelist and dramatist best known for creating the character Peter Pan, whom he based on his friends, the Llewelyn Davies boys. Educated at Dumfries Academy and Edinburgh University, he became a journalist and, later, a celebrated novelist who counted Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Robert Louis Stevenson, and Thomas Hardy amongst his friends and acquaintances. Why was Barrie disappointed with the statue of Peter Pan erected in Kensington Gardens, London?
I am also glad that your safety issues were resolved. Too many people think we only fight for better wages - that is just one small piece of what a union does. Safety is a big part of our reason for being. Thank you Local 2069!