print this page

Members of United Steelworkers (USW) local 7687 take pride in their long history of helping people and groups in their community. Recently, they were able to return a favor to the York/Adams Chapter of the American Red Cross which has helped many members of local 7687 when they were in need.

In August, Rona Elliot of the Machinists Union at local 175, sent out an e-mail request on behalf of the York/Adams Red Cross which had been helping victims from the Chestnut Street fire – a fire that covered an entire block of homes.

The York County chapter does not generally operate in the red but with the support they had provided in the past month, they found their organization in need of assistance. So the call went out to labor leaders in the community, Local 7687 answered with a $500 donation from the membership in August.

Local 7687 in District 10 represents 1048 bargaining unit employees at BAE Systems in York, Pa. Unfortunately, due to defense cuts, only about 908 are actively working in the three shift plant.

BAE Systems provides military vehicles to the United States and allied foreign customers.

Presently, damaged Bradley Fighting vehicles are being refurbished at the York facility as they are returned from Iraq. We have also produced the "Anti IED" [Improvised Explosive Device] type military trucks known as MRAP [Mine Resistant Armored Personnel] vehicles that help protect the occupants from explosive devices used as land mines with its special v-shaped base in the Middle Eastern Gulf War.

For those that may not know it, the statue of Sadam Hussein that was toppled in Baghdad and televised around the world on news broadcasts, was pulled over by an M88 Recovery vehicle that was built in York, Pa at this facility.

This is just another reason to keep manufacturing jobs in America … so workers can continue to assist others when the call goes out.