More than a month after members of United Auto Workers Local 2069 went on strike outside the Volvo Trucks North America plant in Dublin, union and company negotiators returned to the bargaining table Wednesday to discuss issues that for weeks have been aired in employee missives, media interviews and picket line chants.

Tim Barnes, UAW Local 2069 vice president, said union members were glad talks had resumed, but that it could be seven days or more before anything gets resolved.

In the meantime, the union's roughly 2,600 members remain out of work and UAW Local 2069 President Lester Hancock said they would not return to the plant until they had a "reasonable contract."

Volvo spokesman John Mies said he could not comment on how talks were progressing thus far.

The decision to resume negotiations was announced Friday in a letter from Per Carlsson, president and chief executive officer of Volvo Trucks North America. In the letter, Carlsson refers to three topics likely to take center stage in current talks, among them "increased health care cost sharing" and "the exceptionally high degree of manpower movement and higher-than-average absenteeism in the factory."

"While we are encouraged that the talks will resume, it's important to note that there are still many challenges involved in making this facility a global leader in quality, on-time delivery and efficient production -- and all at a globally competitive cost," Carlsson wrote. "It remains the Company's major objective to arrive at a fair contract for all through the collective bargaining process. But it will require change to further develop this facility, move forward, and justify the Volvo Group's continued investment."

UAW Local 2069 went on strike Feb. 1 after the group's bargaining committee was unable to reach an agreement with Volvo regarding a new contract. In the weeks following, union members have taken turns picketing outside the Dublin manufacturing facility.

In an early letter detailing the union's reasons for striking, Hancock said members were upset by "unreasonable proposals that would erode the wages and benefits that we've fought so many years to achieve and protect" as well as management's failure to provide the union with a variety of health and safety data.

Throughout the strike, union members have also said Volvo was looking to dismantle recall rights and health and safety protections.

Volvo, however, has denied assertions regarding recall rights and health and safety issues, and expressed confusion about the union's decision to strike.

"We are a UAW company and we want to protect these jobs, but we have to change our way of doing business for these jobs to be protected," William Waters, Volvo's director of work force performance, said in mid-February. "I think we knew these would be difficult negotiations but we were confident we could work through the issues."

Throughout the strike, each side aired its frustrations and traded barbs about the other's willingness to continue negotiations in letters and media interviews.

Now that both parties have moved a step closer to resolution, it is unclear how the strike -- the first since 1991 -- will affect the relationship between Volvo and UAW Local 2069.

Kent Murrmann, an associate professor in Virginia Tech's Pamplin College of Business, said the effect will likely be minimal.

"To the extent the parties involved are experienced and professional at conducting negotiations on a businesslike basis, the strike shouldn't have any long-term impact on the quality of their relationship," he said.

However, Volvo and UAW Local 2069 haven't been the only ones affected by the standoff, which idled one of the region's largest employers for more than three weeks.

"Volvo has a lot of suppliers in the area," said Bruce Johannessen, manager of the Virginia Employment Commission's Roanoke Workforce Center. "There are a lot of employers who are adversely affected."

Johannessen would not disclose which suppliers in the region have had layoffs, but Salem Preferred Partners in Salem is one supplier in a position to be affected. A message being played on its phone said the plant is closed today and that an announcement would be made after 2 p.m. to tell employees whether to report to work Friday.

Also, Metalsa Roanoke, a Botetourt County producer of truck frame rails, is watching the strike closely. So far, the plant has not cut its 350-person work force but the situation could turn grave because half of the plant's output ordinarily goes to the Dublin Volvo plant.

"We're just hoping they come back to work soon," said Steve Helgeson, vice president for business development and customer service at Metalsa.

Staff writer Jeff Sturgeon contributed to this report.