By Ryan Fatica
Tucson, AZ — Raytheon employees on their way to work Thursday morning were confronted with an unusual spectacle — about 120 people, dressed in all black, lying in the road covered in white sheets, blocking one of the entrances to U.S. Air Force Plant 44, operated by Raytheon Missiles and Defense.
Their reactions were mixed: many made U-turns and drove around to the Raytheon compound’s north entrance, some shouted obscenities, others looked on woodenly. Some may even have honked in support, although it’s hard to tell if those who cheered the action were employees of the nation’s second largest munitions manufacturer or just passersby.
The action, which lasted about an hour and a half, was coordinated by a coalition of Tucson groups operating under the banner of the Tucson Coalition for Palestine, including Arizona Palestine Solidarity Alliance, Jewish Voice for Peace, and Derechos Humanos. The action was intended to call attention to the ongoing invasion of Gaza by Israeli military forces and the more than 9,000 lives it has already claimed.
Raytheon, whose parent corporation RTX Technologies is Tucson’s largest employer with over 12,000 local workers, began supplying components to Israel’s Iron Dome missile system in 2014. RTX is the second largest weapons manufacturer in the U.S. with yearly revenue of over $67 billion.
On a recent quarterly earnings call, RTX Chairman and CEO Greg Hayes bragged about how recent increases in Defense Department spending, specifically in response to the wars in Ukraine and the Israeli bombardment of Gaza, would increase the company’s revenue in coming years. “I think really across the entire Raytheon portfolio,” said Hayes, “you’re going to see a benefit of this restocking.”
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