In May, the Timken Company decided to close its factories in Canton, Ohio. News accounts focused on George W. Bush’s visit in 2003 to tout his jobs and growth strategy. The stories failed to say what those factories made: ball bearings.

Sixty-one years ago, U.S. Army Air Forces dropped 12,000 tons of bombs on Schweinfurt, Germany and destroyed two-thirds of the Nazis’ ball bearing production. Aircrews from 98 of the 428 attacking Flying Fortresses never returned home.

Ball bearings – tiny shiny balls that let heavy metal parts move with little friction – cost nearly a thousand Americans their lives in 1943 and 1,300 Americans their livelihoods in 2004. Why pay so high a price?

In World War II, the answer was obvious: Without ball bearings, the Nazis’ war machine would grind to a halt. Literally!

In today’s trade wars, the answer is also obvious. Highly-skilled workers, like ball bearings, enable our transcontinental economy to manufacture and move goods effortlessly. And our economic enemies, at home and abroad, have us in their bombsights.

What we, as Machinists, do every day is indispensable to the engine of economic growth. Destroy us and that engine grinds to a halt.

We will never let that happen. The IAM is North America’s Might. And we intend to remind friend and foe alike of that simple truth. With our might, we will do what’s right. We will fight for our jobs, protect our families and forge a better future for the next generation.