Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, March 9, 1991 TAG: 9103090424
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A/1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: CATHRYN McCUE NEW RIVER VALLEY BUREAU
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Medium
"We'll be on strike - that's all I can tell you," said Bob Goad, vice president for the UAW Local 2069.
"We're not allowed to say anything about the contract," he said in a telephone interview from the Dublin union hall.
Goad, who was not part of the negotiating team, said earlier Friday that the union's "biggest issue has been benefits and the economic package."
Company officials could not be reached for comment after the talks failed.
Negotiations on the three-year contract began five weeks ago and had continued daily until shortly before the midnight Friday deadline.
Union officials said a strike would affect the 680 wage-earners at the Pulaski County plant as well as roughly 380 laid-off workers.
Spokesmen on both sides had predicted a settlement would be reached after the deadline.
There has never been a strike at the Dublin plant since it began operating 17 years ago, plant manager John Bryant said.
The union's contract is renegotiated about every three years, he said.
Employees called his office frequently during the day to find out what was going on, but Bryant said he could tell them little.
Likewise, workers sought news about the talks at the union hall, across Slaughterhouse Road from the Volvo plant.
"People were in and out all day long, waiting," Goad said. "People are in limbo."
The 380 workers have been laid off over the past six months. The company cut production from 60 trucks to 36 daily, citing sluggish sales and uncertainty about the Persian Gulf crisis.
Goad said the meetings were held in Blacksburg rather than in Pulaski County because "we wanted to keep it in a neutral zone. If they [workers] know where you're at, they'll aggravate you to death."
by CNB