July 12, 2010 - The Second Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld a lawsuit brought by IAM District 26 against United Technologies Corporation (UTC), parent company of Pratt & Whitney. The court upheld a U.S. District Court’s injunction that barred aircraft jet engine maker Pratt & Whitney  from closing plants in Cheshire and East Hartford, CT.

The unanimous 23-page decision from the three-judge appeals panel states, in part: “The district court concluded that Pratt had not made, and was not making, ‘every reasonable effort’ to preserve bargaining unit work as required by the CBA [collective bargaining agreement].

"We find no error… in the district court’s determination that Pratt failed to pursue the goal of preserving bargaining unit work in good faith. We therefore affirm the judgment.”

“Pratt & Whitney is adding insult to injury by filing an appeal of the court decision castigating them for failing to make an effort to preserve work in Connecticut. The appeal comes a day after the company announced layoffs in the locations they were barred by court order from closing. Our country is facing the most severe economic crisis in our lifetime,” said, District 26 Directing Business Representative Everett Corey.

“UTC’s response to their court defeat is not just a slap in the face to workers, it’s an insult to the taxpayers of this country, who pay this corporation millions of dollars every year.  They’re no different than Goldman Sachs – stuffing their private bank accounts while sneering at the people who make them rich.  It’s disgusting.”

In March Pratt & Whitney went into court to request the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, in Hartford, Connecticut to act quickly on an appeal before the court on a lower court decision that prevents the jet engine maker from moving over 1,000 job's out of the state and country. Pratt & Whitney indicated they needed a decision before their machinists contract expires December 5, 2010.

Back in March Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, in a brief filed with the lower court, U.S. District Court, said that Pratt & Whitney had failed to demonstrate that the transfer of 1,000 Connecticut jobs out of state and overseas would result in any savings during the term of its union contract. Blumenthal said the company also proved through its own case at trial that it violated its collective bargaining agreement and failed to consider reasonable offers by the union and state to avoid devastating job cuts.

"Pratt disingenuously demanded concessions that it knew to be impossible, callously violating its legal agreement with workers to make every reasonable effort to preserve work, even when the concession cost savings outweighed the expense of transferring jobs.

“Despite its determination to betray its contract with workers, Pratt performed a gross charade of negotiations with the state and union. The company's own executives essentially admitted their own sham, testifying that Pratt had no intention of accepting the concessions it dubiously demanded. The court cannot in good conscience allow Pratt to violate its legal and moral obligations -- devastating families, and damaging the entire state economy."