Judge Takes Up Pratt & Whitney Jobs Lawsuit

    HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) - A federal judge will begin hearing
arguments in a lawsuit challenging jet engine maker Pratt &
Whitney’s plans to move 1,000 jobs out of Connecticut.
    U.S. District Judge Janet Hall is set to take up the lawsuit
filed by the International Association of Machinists on Monday.
    Hall is expected to decide by next month whether the East
Hartford-based subsidiary of United Technologies Corp. complied
with its union contract that requires “every reasonable effort”
to preserve the jobs it wants to move to Columbus, Ga., Singapore
and Japan.
    The company says it has made those efforts. Pratt says it will
shut its engine overhaul and repair plant in Cheshire by early 2011
and shift repair operations from its East Hartford facility
beginning in next year’s second quarter.