Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky recently visited a factory in Scranton ,Pa., to watch proud IAM Local 847 (District 1) members manufacture artillery shells. Zelensky also wanted to meet and thank the workers he considers vital to his country’s defense. He was accompanied by U.S. Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.,) and Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) , who also wanted to meet and thank IAM Union members.
(Photo Courtesy: Volodymyr Zelensky, via X)
Over 400 IAM members work at the Scranton Army Ammunition factory, with another 1,000 General Dynamics workers nearby manufacturing the lethal explosives used inside each shell.
“400 people save millions of Ukrainian people,” said Zelensky. “I just say thank you.”
If you are a Russian soldier on the front in Ukraine, you have roughly 75 seconds from the time Ukrainian forces fire a 155 millimeter shell your way, until that artillery round hits. When it does, most things within 50 meters are dead, and much within 100 meters is seriously shredded by steel shrapnel.
The modern artillery systems, like the famed M777 Howitzer cannon, sold to the Ukrainians by NATO since the Russian invasion in 2022, are accurate to within 10 meters of a target point. Russians within 100 meters of that target point are having a seriously bad day.
Ukrainian military leaders report that they fire 6,000 to 8,000 rounds of these artillery shells every day at the Russians, from 15 to 20 miles away. Russian troops are firing multiple thousands of 120 millimeter artillery rounds per day back at the Ukrainians, with far less accuracy, which often fail to function on impact. Ukraine has asked western defense contractors, like this U.S. Army factory run by General Dynamics, to up their production rate of artillery shells so that Ukraine can send 7,000 to 9,000 shells a day at the Russians.
That means steady work for IAM members of local 847, just outside of Scranton.
“Our members at Local 847 have been shaping the steel artillery rounds for the Army for a few generations now,” said IAM District 1 Directing Business Representative Anthony Armideo. “General Dynamics runs that factory now, but we have been at that site since Hoffman Machinery Corp. converted the factory to produce artillery shells in 1953.”
(Photo Courtesy: Volodymyr Zelensky, via X)
“Any time we hear that production is ramping up for our members, that is good news. Local 847 has a long history with the IAM, dating back to its charter in 1952 when 500 brothers voted to join,” said IAM Eastern Territory General Vice President David Sullivan. “Now these Brothers, Sisters, and Siblings are continuing that legacy of shaping steel for our defense industry at General Dynamics”.
Media reports that Ukraine has ordered 1.5 million of these rounds, and IAM members have helped meet that demand. 155 millimeter rounds have become one of the most sought after tools for the Ukrainian military. Some unique engineering has seen mortars and artillery rounds dropped from drones by the Ukrainians to defeat Russians.
“Our members do this work everyday, with little notice or fanfare,” said IAM Local 847 President Joe Leary. “We were just happy to see Zelensky up close, because we want him to win.”
A banner stretches above the factory floor: “Victory in the field begins in the factory.” Above the banner hangs a flag of each U.S. military service branch, with the U.S. flag in the proper position of honor, facing forward from the right of all other flags.
These IAM members are honored to hold their position in this factory to bring victory closer each day. Hoping to shape an outcome of a war of self defense that keeps Ukraine free and independent.
(Photo Courtesy: Volodymyr Zelensky, via X)
The post Victory in the Field Begins in the Factory’: Ukrainian President Thanks IAM Local 847 Members in Visit to Pennsylvania Ammunition Facility appeared first on IAMAW.