Pratt, Job Cuts, Congress and CT

So this has been a very rocky summer (and now fall) for East Hartford based Pratt & Whitney and its thousands of Connecticut employees. As we all know Congress cut spending on the F-22 fighter jet despite an uphill battle by US Senator Christopher Dodd (D-CT) and US Representative John Larson (CT-01) whose congressional district includes East Hartford - it is also his hometown.

While the F-22 was vital to Pratt & Whitney and the manufacturing jobs they have in the state, the vitality of the F-22 was also questionable.

I for one am glad to have had our members of Congress fighting on behalf of Connecticut and Pratt & Whitney in Washington, D.C. However, they lost and we must move on. We can't cry over spilled milk.

After the announcement came the news that Pratt would be closing plants in East Hartford and Chesire moving about 1,000 jobs out of state and overseas.

Fast forward to the recent Senate defense bill that includes $2.5 billion dollars for the production of 10 C-17 military cargo planes to be made by Pratt. The defense bill is still waiting final approval. However, no one is really sure if this means Pratt will keep jobs in Connecticut. Pratt doesn't say much usually but I am getting the feeling that they will still close the 2 CT plants and move the jobs. Attorney General Richard Blumenthal and the Machinists Union are working on legal actions currently.

I am extremely opposed to the closing of the 2 Connecticut plants. I would be less opposed if the plants were being closed and the jobs cut due to the economy. But to have the jobs moved out of state or overseas is a slap in the face from a company that has Connecticut (and Greater Hartford) written all over it. Pratt & Whitney was founded in Hartford in 1925. In 1929 they become part of United Aircraft Corporation (now UTC) and moved from Capital Ave in Hartford to East Hartford. And as you know UTC is headquartered in Hartford. And Otis headquartered in Farmington, Sikorsky in Stratford and Hamilton Sundstrand in Windsor Locks are all part of UTC. So could this company be any more CT? (Ok in reality it could but the question sounds good)

Anyway back to the topic. We must fight to keep the 1,000 Pratt jobs in Connecticut. I simply find it unacceptable that since the company did not get what they wanted they decided to move quality jobs to a place where it is cheaper to do business. Additionally, Senator Dodd was the one who secured funding for a Pratt project in this most recent Senate defense bill. I ask the question: What are the Senators and Representatives from the states Pratt wants to move operations to doing? And what are those overseas doing for Pratt?

I know this is an uphill battle, there are many factors beyond our control (like the economy) and that some may disagree with me on this but I feel we must do everything we can to keep jobs like this in our state.