Cara Baruzzi
New Haven Register
7/8/2010
Union and state officials are celebrating a decision by a federal appeals court Thursday that blocks Pratt & Whitney’s attempt to close its Cheshire plant and an East Hartford division, saying the company can’t move 1,000 jobs out of Connecticut because it failed to make every reasonable effort to keep them here.
“It’s the decision we have been waiting for,” said James Parent, negotiating official for the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers District 26, which represents Pratt workers.
The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York upheld a previous decision by a federal judge that said the company violated its contract with the union by not making all reasonable attempts to spare the proposed job cuts.
However, Parent said the injunction on the cuts lasts only through the duration of the current contract between Pratt and the union, which expires Dec. 5.
Union leaders will fight to keep “job security language” that is included in their current three-year pact in the next one when they begin contract negotiations with Pratt in October, he said.
“It’ll be up to contract talks for us, as a union, to be able to convince the company to keep our job security protection,” Parent said.
After Thursday’s decision, Pratt issued a statement saying, in part, “We believe we acted in good faith and genuinely made every reasonable effort” to keep the jobs in Connecticut.
Read the rest of the article at The New Haven Register.
