Gov. M. Jodi Rell wants to offer $100 million in state assistance to help keep Pratt and Whitney jobs here in Connecticut.
The five-year plan would offer benefits to UTC, Pratt’s parent company, in the form of tax credits, training assistance and construction of a new engineering center. Rell is hoping it will keep jobs and Pratt here in Connecticut for years.
“It’s going to be a devastating blow to lose 1,000 jobs, and we really wanted to know what we could do, so we’ve been working with the company and the union to come up with ideas and proposals,” Rell said.
Some Democratic leaders support the Governor’s funding plan and hope it will push negotiations in the right direction.
“I do not see Pratt stepping forward. I hope that in the near future they will and make this a reality that we don’t lose this thousand jobs and other jobs that are associated,” said Senator Gary LeBeau, a Democrat from East Hartford.
Yet some Republican leaders said the same Democrats standing by workers are the ones who passed a budget that did nothing to create jobs or make Connecticut more desirable for business.
“We shouldn’t be shocked and awed that big corporations like UTC decide this is not the place to be, we shouldn’t be shocked, but it should be a wake up a call that we need to get more serious,” said Sen. Len Fasano, the Senate Minority Leader.
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Nevertheless, the machinists union is hoping the almost $63 million in annual cost cuts it’s made for the company will help Pratt decide to stay.
“We do want to preserve this work not only for this year, next year, but for time enough for our kids and grandkids to work at Pratt and Whitney,” said John Harrity, a member of IAM District 26.
In a statement, Pratt and Whitney said, “We are committed to exploring any viable economic proposal that would make these operations competitive over the long-term. Pratt & Whitney continues to meet with the union and State officials as part of the meet and confer process.”
