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A trial judge has heard how jet engine maker Pratt & Whitney considered closing its Cheshire repair plant more than a year before the announcement came.  WNPR’s Harriet Jones reports.

The Hartford Courant reports that Tom Mayes, Pratt’s vice president in charge of commercial engines gave evidence at the trial in U.S. District Court in Bridgeport.  He testified that he had recommended the closure of the Cheshire facility in mid-2008, although the company continued to seek alternatives.  Pratt didn’t make that recommendation public until July 2009. 

The company has been sued by the International Association of Machinists over its plans to close that plant and one in East Hartford, with the potential loss of more than a thousand jobs.  Lawyers for the union reiterated in court that Pratt is bound by its contract with workers to make every reasonable effort to keep work in Connecticut.  The company wants to move the work to Georgia and Singapore as a way of cutting costs.  The two sides undertook lengthy talks this summer to explore ways to save the jobs, but Pratt made its decision final in September.  More company executives are expected to take the stand as the trial continues.

For WNPR, I'm Harriet Jones.