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After recently announcing that they would be moving their Mack truck production from the New River Valley Volvo Plant to Pennsylvania, Volvo has just announced that 973 employees, who have been on temporary layoff at the NRV plant, when now be permanently laid off.
In a letter, which was sent to Pulaski County Administrator Peter Huber from Denise Hughes, the human resources manager with the New River Valley Volvo Plant in Dublin, under the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act, “The 973 bargaining positions placed on temporary layoff in May will now be on a permanent basis.” An addition, the letter stated, “Volvo Trucks North America will close an operational unit at the New River Valley Plant, as a result of the relocation of Mack production work to the Mack Macungie facility in Pennsylvania. As a result of this operational unit closure, approximately 540 bargaining unit positions in the NRV will be eliminated permanently. We anticipate that this operational unite closure will be effectuated during the 14-day period from October 30 through November 13, 2008.” Also in the letter to Huber, Hughes stated, “Volvo has extended the layoff of one non-bargaining unit employee by separate notice. The extension is effective immediately and is considered permanent under the WARN Act. This employee occupied the job title of Production Advisor. This employee is not entitled to bumping rights.” The letter was also sent to Lester Hancock, President of UAW Local 2069. “The market is just not there right now,” said Lester Hancock, Tuesday afternoon. “It’s not only affecting Volvo, but also every trucking company in America.” Hancock added, “The laid off workers will still get 26 weeks of subpay from the Union. However, about 13 weeks have already been used up."
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