United Mine Workers of America. Braidwood is the home of the Mine Workersâ Union Local #1 which was the first Minersâ Union in Illinois. It led to the unionization of all states that mined for coal. William D. Ryan, born in Braidwood in 1861, was a founder of the UMWA.
1. BASF (Ludwigshafen, Germany) BASF is the biggest chemical producing company in the world with annual sales reaching $78.7 billion in 2014. The German company, headquartered in Ludwigshafen, Germany is focused on industry grade chemicals used in the automotive, construction, and pharmaceutical industries.
Merck Group. The Merck Group, branded and commonly known as Merck, is a German multinational chemical, pharmaceutical and life sciences company headquartered in Darmstadt, with around 50,000 employees in around 70 countries. Merck was founded in 1668 and is the world's oldest operating chemical and pharmaceutical company, as well as one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world. Merck operates in Europe, Africa, Asia, Oceania and the Americas. It has major research and development centres in Darms