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As the union representing about 3,000 striking workers at Pratt & Whitney plants in the Hartford area readies to return to the bargaining table with the jet-engine maker, a top state official condemned the company’s suspension of health insurance for the workers.
Attorney General William Tong said Wednesday he condemns the “action in the strongest possible terms. This is a huge conglomerate punishing and intimidating workers for exercising their legal rights.”
The union is in the third week of the strike, and is to go back to the bargaining table Thursday.
“Stripping healthcare is an attack not just on the workers but their spouses and children, aimed at busting this union and breaking the strike,” Tong said in an email.
“There are pregnant women and cancer patients impacted by this move, who cannot under any circumstance have their coverage or care disrupted. We are fortunate in Connecticut that striking workers can now continue coverage through Access Health CT, but the easiest way to avoid this hardship would be for corporate leadership to do the right thing and return to the table for good faith negotiations on a fair contract.”
The union members began picketing in East Hartford and Middletown on May 5, a day after overwhelmingly rejecting Pratt’s final contract offer and setting up a historic bargaining showdown not seen at the company in decades.
Union members have said the biggest issues separating them are employment security, marked by worries about jobs migrating to areas of the country where it is cheaper to do business; pension and retirement benefits; and concerns about wages keeping up with inflation.
Pratt has said it is committed to keeping manufacturing in Connecticut.
An email seeking comment was sent to the union.
Some picketing workers said the erosion in health benefits, marked by higher premiums and deductibles, essentially erased the pay increases offered by the company. According to Pratt, the proposed pay increase was a general wage increase of 4% immediately, 3.5% in 2026 and 3% in 2027.
A spokesman for Pratt said Wednesday, in response to Tong’s comments, “Connecticut IAM-employees rejected the company’s final contract offer and voted to strike. Striking employees aren’t eligible for pay or benefits.
“However, Pratt & Whitney extended benefits coverage for two weeks to allow for employees to make alternate arrangements,” Pratt’s statement said. “We look forward to resuming negotiations tomorrow for a mutually beneficial new contract that continues to secure these high paying, high-skilled manufacturing jobs here in Connecticut.”
Wayne McCarthy, president of IAM Union Local 700, said the union “leadership strongly agrees” with the Tong’s statement.
“This isn’t the first time that the company has dismissed the health and safety of our members. When COVID was raging throughout the US, our members had to report to work as essential employees,” he said. “The salary staff, who are now entering the plant while masquerading as machinists, worked from home during the pandemic. We were placed in harm’s way then, as we are now. They are jeopardizing our members on-going health by stripping away their ability to receive life saving medication for themselves and their families. It is unconscionable.”
Workers knew they were set to lose their health care coverage on Monday, but had noted that Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz and State Sen. Matt Lesser, D-Middletown, reached out to say that workers would be eligible to apply for health care coverage under Access Health CT, the state’s health insurance marketplace.
Reporting by Kenneth Gosselin and Stephen Underwood is included in this post.
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