Canel Lodge 700 Iamaw Afl Cio

On April 26, 1959, The International Association of Machinists granted a Charter to Canel Lodge 700, Middletown, Connecticut. The union was to represent workers in a government installation located close to the banks of the Connecticut River in an area known to the local population by it’s Native American name Maromas, or “bend in the river”.

Canel, or the acronym stands for Connecticut Aircraft Nuclear Engine Laboratory. This government facility was constructed during the Cold War era to secretly research and develop nuclear power for use in an aircraft. Many of the buildings constructed to perform this research still exist at this location today but are used for other purposes. Though the results of the project were never made public, the obvious lack of nuclear powered aircraft in the skies today may be considered testimony to the project’s lack of success. The project was scuttled in 1961.

The government sold the research facility to major Connecticut based defense contractor United Aircraft Corp. who administered the project for them. UA began expanding the facility so their Pratt & Whitney Aircraft division could manufacture and test jet engines for both commercial and military applications.

Pratt & Whitney Aircraft, now a division of United Technologies, still operates this facility where approximately 1222 members of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers are employed in the manufacture of jet engine parts and the assembly and testing of both military and commercial jet engines.

The members of Local Lodge 700 are proud of their history in Middletown and proud to build the best jet engines in the world.