Nearly every car produced in North America has a timing chain made by IAM members at the Borg-Warner plant in Ithaca, New York. Anthony Vaughn, Local 2001, inspects one of the thousands of timing chains produced each day.

And yet, thousands of moving auto parts, parts ingeniously engineered and precisely tooled, must work in harmony. If a part fails, the daily commute becomes a nightmare.

Our lives depend on the craftsmanship of men and women who, fortunately, do give their work more than a second thought. They’ve dedicated their lives to making parts you can rely on, day in and day out.

“That’s what I do,” explained Art Totman from Local Lodge 2001 in Ithaca, New York. “I make timing chains for new cars. They look like sophisticated bicycle chains, but our timing chains position the engine cylinders correctly for the firing sequence.”

In an internal combustion engine, spark plugs ignite the gas in the cylinder. Explosions push the pistons that turn the crankshaft. The cycle is repeated thousands of times every minute. Placing those cylinders in the right place at the right point in time is the job of a timing chain.

Seven million new cars are made in North America each year. Almost every one comes with a chain-driven overhead cam, and won’t go an inch without a timing chain made by IAM members at Borg-Warner Automotive. They’ve made over 40 million of them since 2000.

“Stop and think about that,” suggested IP Tom Buffenbarger, “all that horsepower relies on IAM members doing their jobs skillfully. They are why the IAM is North America’s Might.”

The Indispensables
In industry after industry, IAM members play the absolutely indispensable role in the production processes or customer services. Remove them, even if only temporarily, and the engine of growth grinds to a halt.

How critical are IAM members?

Machinists act like those timing chains. They position the cylinders of the engine of growth in the right place at the right time.

Machinists make dies … operate drop presses … produce patterns and core box tooling for the automotive industry … forge the pumps that lubricate massive earth moving machines  … craft socket sets and ratchets used by auto techs ... and manufacture specialty gases used in etching computer chips.

In local lodge after local lodge, IAM members are working at thousands of absolutely indispensable jobs. No one has ever listed all the jobs we do, all the products we make or all the services we provide. (See page 18.)

But what we do has a profound impact on North America. In these eight examples, you will get a taste (but only a taste) of what Machinists do and a sense of just how powerful we really are.

Our power derives from three sources: the highly-skilled work Machinists do; the key positions Machinists hold in production processes and customer services and the sheer number and geographic distribution of the workplaces covered by IAM contracts.