Volvo Trucks workers remain defiant after UAW sellout of five-week strike
Volvo Trucks workers returning to work today in Virginia say it is “going to be a battle” with management after the sellout of their five-week strike by the United Auto Workers (UAW). The nearly 3,000 Volvo workers at the New River Valley plant in Dublin, Virginia return to the factory in a confident and militant mood after striking two times over the last four months and rejecting three, and more likely four, UAW-backed concession contracts.
Last Wednesday, the UAW claimed its proposal for a six-year labor agreement, already rejected by nearly two-thirds of the workforce on July 9, had passed by only 17 votes out of the 2,369 votes cast by workers. Amid widespread accusations of vote fraud, the UAW quickly shut down the strike. UAW President Ray Curry cynically declared, “The democratic process played out at Volvo Trucks.”