VALPARAISO â Workers have been filling the remaining orders for bearings for Black Hawk helicopters and winding down operations at a factory long run by McGill Manufacturing, which was founded in Valparaiso 116 years ago and has been an institution ever since.
Wisconsin-based Regal Beloit, which acquired the aerospace plant at 2300 Evans Ave. in 2015, decided to shutter it after workers went on strike over proposed steep increases to their out-of-pocket health care expenses in 2019. President Joe Biden, Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, and former U.S. Rep. Pete Visclosky all had voiced support for the striking workers who make bearings for a number of civilian and military aircraft, including the Apache Block III attack helicopter, the V-22 Osprey, the F-35 Lighting fighter jet, the AH-1 Cobra, the CH-53E Super Station and the AH-1 Thunderbolt Warthog.