Engine builder Pratt & Whitney has chosen to close its East Hartford and Cheshire facilities and send work out of state and overseas, rebuffing efforts by the union and state leaders to keep about 1,000 jobs in Connecticut.
Pratt officials said today it will close its Cheshire engine center by early 2011 and its East Hartford airfoil repair facility by next summer. Work will move to Pratt facilities in Georgia, Japan and Singapore, officials said
Meanwhile, layoffs at both facilities will begin in January, Pratt said. Any new jobs in Georgia related to the move will be posted and laid-off Connecticut employees are eligible to apply, officials said.
Pratt said there was a $23 million gap between the $53.8 million annual savings it sought and the $30.8 million package offered by the machinists’ union and the state.
Union officials were not immedately available for comment.
However, Secretary of State Susan Bysiewicz, who is a Democratic candidate for governor, publicly lamented Pratt’s decision.
“This is a sad day for the Connecticut economy and for all the families in our state who have poured years of experience into manufacturing and repairing the finest jet engines in the world,” Bysiewicz said in an e-mailed statement.”
“Pratt & Whitney’s decision to close the repair and maintenance facilities in Cheshire and East Hartford will cost Connecticut not only the 1,000 positions who work directly at these plants, but an estimated 3,000 to 6,000 jobs will be lost among the small manufacturers and suppliers who provide many of the components used to work on these engines. This is the wrong direction for our economy to be taking.”
Reader response:
“So yesterday Bysiewicz says she doubeling the small business fees for business owners registered in CT. Today she criticizes companies for not doing more to help CT employes by remaining in the state. They just don’t get it. CT is not “business friendly”.” — Tom, unemployed
