Pratt workers to hold rally

Cheshire, Conn. (WTNH) - Some workers at Pratt & Whitney are scheduled to hold a holding a rally Tuesday to organize support as their contract is set to expire.

You may remember how the union went to court and won and kept Pratt & Whitney from closing the Cheshire plant and part of the East Hartford facility. But that court victory was only valid as long as the current union contract was in force, and that contract runs out Sunday.

Management and the union are trying to work out a new deal, but Pratt really wants to close down these shops.

We don't know many details, because they're not talking to the media, but this afternoon workers will hold a rally outside the East Hartford plant. The theme is "Workers deserve security. We are not going backwards."

Pratt & Whitney has announced on its website that it has tentatively decided to shut Cheshire and part of East Hartford because of competition and declining business.

Even though the court victory kept them open, Pratt has already downsized. A little more than a year ago, 670 machinists worked here at the Cheshire plant. Since then, they've laid off almost 300 of them.