As a strike at Volvo Trucks North America in Dublin stretches toward a month in duration, there was a ripple of activity Monday pointing toward the possibility that talks could resume soon.

Company spokesman John Mies said Volvo had responded favorably to a request from the international office of the United Auto Workers to resume bargaining.

"We're working with them on establishing dates that work for both parties to get back to the table," Mies said.

Gary Casteel, a Tennessee-based regional director for the UAW, said workers' representatives are and have been willing to negotiate with the company.

"We're ready to bargain," Casteel said.

Meanwhile Monday, union members were joined on the picket line by an aide to UAW international Vice President General Holiefield.

Holiefield was taken ill and could not make a scheduled visit to Dublin on Monday for a speech today to workers. But he sent his aide, who will give the speech, said Lester Hancock, president of UAW Local 2069.

Today, the strike will be 26 days old, two days shorter than a strike against Volvo in Dublin in 1991. The union ended that strike when union workers approved a new contract that the company went on to ratify as well.

The latest strike began Feb. 1 after negotiators were unable to replace a contract that expired Jan. 31.

Four weeks is not an atypical strike. Researchers found that, in 2006, private-sector strikes involving 1,000 or more employees ran for an average of nearly 27 days, up from 20 days in 2005, according to data released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. There were 20 major work stoppages in 2006.

The union has said that in return for workers' pulling strike duty, it is providing them $200 a week and paying for their health insurance. The strike pay is about a third of a typical take-home paycheck. Plant employees make an average gross wage of about $21 an hour.

Since workers walked off the job, truck production has halted.

"We've seen no trucks come out," said Randy Rakes, education chairman with Local 2069.

Mies said about 2,600 workers are off the job, while about 300 employees are showing up. The company is exploring options to resume production, according to Mies.

Concern for striking workers extends to statewide union circles.

"We hope they get back to negotiations and it ends quickly with a fair and just contract for all the employees who are making all those trucks," said Jim Leaman, president of the Virginia AFL-CIO.