DUBLIN, Va. – By the end of June, hundreds more employees at Volvo Trucks New River Valley plant in Dublin will be without a job. The company announced a second round of layoffs late last week.
The plant is the region’s largest employer, currently employing around 3,400 individuals. This figure does not account for the indirect jobs from suppliers for Volvo.
“It was a lifeline, because it opened up a wide area for more people to get hired,” said Pamela Smith, a retired employee who spent two decades on the floor at the Volvo Trucks plant. Although she is happily retired, she expressed concern over the recent layoffs.
“They always did big layoffs, but now it’s hard to live. Things cost more. It’s harder to get places. It’s harder even to get a good job,” Smith added.
The second round of layoffs comes as Pulaski County leaders are working on their budget for the next fiscal year. County Administrator Jonathan Sweet told 10 News that it is too soon to determine the impact the layoffs will have on the county’s finances.
“Particularly from the sales tax revenue standpoint, because we don’t know exactly how many are laid off yet, we don’t know the duration, we don’t know how strong the recovery or the bring back to work will be and how quickly that will be.” Sweet said.
Volvo Group North America indicated that this round of indefinite layoffs would involve between 250 and 350 employees. The layoff earlier this year resulted in 180 positions being cut, not counting those lost to attrition, leading to a total potential impact of 430 to 530 people.
“The good news for Pulaski County is we’ve experienced these types of things before, and we adjust very well. We’ve got a pretty diverse economy here,” Sweet noted.
Volvo Group said the need for layoffs stemmed from a drop in demand for heavy-duty trucks due to uncertainty over factors like regulations and tariffs.
“This is considered an indefinite layoff. We can’t say when we’ll need to increase production as it depends on the market, but we look forward to calling people back as soon as that’s necessary,” the company said in a statement to 10 News. “For our union-represented employees, we will recall them in accordance with their respective labor agreements.”
As of now, the latest round of layoffs will take effect June 27.