One of the New River Valley's largest employers has made a tough decision.
Volvo Truck North America in Pulaski County says it must let workers go.
WDBJ7 spoke with the top public relations person from Volvo North America on Friday. He said the number of workers that will be laid off will be 300.
At the Volvo plant in Dublin, the massive trucks keep rolling in and out. News that up to 300 workers will be laid off is hard to hear.
Truck drivers saw our camera, but didn't want to talk. All they could do was shake their heads.
One driver told WDBJ7 that Volvo had told him not to talk to the media.
Becky Cox runs the Rapid Response office at New River Community College. Her job is to help those Volvo employees find jobs, as fast as possible.
"Of course we listen to the media and you either hear that there are jobs everywhere for everyone or there’s no jobs at all and you don't really hear anything in the middle and there are jobs there. That's what we do. We connect them with those jobs," Cox said.
Volvo says the layoffs are linked directly to a slowdown in orders, and next week’s presidential election. Volvo says the economy has buyers waiting to see who wins.
Businesses around the plant say losing workers always has a ripple effect.
From June 2011 to June of this year, economic experts say the New River Valley had the highest growth rate in the state. This Volvo news is definitely a setback.
"The reality is that numbers are going to vary from year to year. Some years it’ll be 2,000. Some years it’ll be 1,500. Some years it’ll be 2,500,” Cox said.
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Volvo Trucks announced today it plans to lay off about 300 employees at its New River Valley assembly plant in Dublin beginning in January 2013.
The company's Media Relations manager, Brandon Borgna, released the following statement this morning:
There are plans at this time to lay off about 300 employees at Volvo Trucks’ New River Valley assembly plant, beginning in January 2013. We very much regret having to take this action, which is driven by the well-publicized decline in industry orders. Continued economic concerns, sluggish job growth, the upcoming election and federal budget discussions have impacted orders as customers delay purchasing decisions. We remain focused on keeping the company competitive and ensuring that Volvo is a strong employer for the long term.
