Despite the closures of Pratt & Whitney’s Cheshire and East Hartford CARO overhaul facilities in Connecticut, IAM members who worked at those locations still have jobs.
“From the time closing notices were received in July 2009, the members and negotiating committee of District 26 were determined to reach an agreement that would preserve those jobs,” said Jim Parent, IAM chief negotiator and District Lodge 26 Assistant Directing Business Representative.
“The closings affected 497 of our members,” continued Parent. “Seventy took the buy-out that Pratt offered; and because of the contract language negotiated in our last round of bargaining, we were able to place the remaining 427 workers in jobs. Our job-security provisions remain some of the best contract protections in the country.”
A majority of the workers were moved to similar jobs in Middletown or East Hartford. Some are receiving training through a community college machining program and will then go to work as machinists in Middletown. Still others have been given jobs as utility workers and the rest retired.
The CARO (Connecticut Airfoil Repair Operation) shop closed last spring, and Cheshire closed last week. The plant closings are due to Pratt & Whitney moving the work to Georgia and Asia.
