Depending on its duration, the United Auto Workers' strike against the Volvo Trucks North America plant in Dublin that began Friday could have broader economic and social significance in the region.

The strike pay of $200 a week provided to picketing workers by the union is far less -- as little as one-quarter -- than workers' regular wages. Plant employees make an average of $21 to $22 an hour. State economist William Mezger said the state's average manufacturing wage is about $18 an hour.

And striking workers cannot supplement their strike pay with unemployment payments, because they are ineligible, said Mezger, who works at the Virginia Employment Commission.

That leaves them with significantly less money to spend in the local economies. The plant employs nearly 3,000 workers.

In addition, employees of various supplier industries in the region could lose their jobs if those companies lose truck-parts orders, Mezger said. In adding up the effect of the strike, their lost income also could have economic consequences.

However, the severity of the strike's consequences depends on how long it lasts.

A short strike is well within the Southwest Virginia economy's ability to bear, Mezger said. He said the New River Valley's other two large employers, Radford University and Virginia Tech, are pumping millions of dollars into the region's economy.

But a long strike would likely delay big-ticket purchases, including houses and cars, and hurt sales of related products and services.

"Things won't be as good as they normally are in that area," he said.

In addition to economic fallout, there is sometimes social fallout.

"You have the ill will that occurs with a strike," said Marc Cryer, a teacher and researcher at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. "There are always people who feel very strongly about the damage that strikes cause. That can divide people even in the same family."

This is especially true in the auto industry, where the work is often steady and many workers and their families have strong feelings about the work and about where they work. Such feelings may go back generations, said Cryer, who is on the staff at the university's Center for Labor Education and Research.

On the positive side, if the strike is successful, "it will draw workers together," Cryer said. "It could be a catalyst for change in a small community, too. As people get together and realize they have power as a group, they may use it in other ways."