United Electrical, Radio & Machine Workers of America, Unity Lodge, Local 251

United Electrical, Radio & Machine Workers of America, Unity Lodge, Local 251, represented workers at the Pratt & Whitney Division of Niles-Bement-Pond in West Hartford, Connecticut . Its predecessor union was established in 1933-1934 as the Machine Tool and Co-workers of America, Unity Lodge. In March 1937 the Unity Lodge affiliated with the United Automobile Workers of America to become UAW Local 348.

The charter for Local 251 was established on October 3, 1938 . Local 251 became part of the Amalgamated Local 405 of the International Union of United Automobile, Aircraft and Agricultural Implement Workers of America on March 19, 1948 .

Pratt & Whitney Company was founded in 1860 by Francis Pratt (1827-1902) and Amos Whitney (1832-1920), who met while working as machinists for the Phoenix Iron Works . The first products they produced included silk winders, guns, lathes, and drills. The company formally incorporated in 1869. By the end of the 1800s the company branched into the production of planters, screw machines, die sinkers, wrenches, gages, weighing machines, and more.

In 1879 the company hired Harvard professor William A. Rogers and Stevens Institute of Technology graduate George M. Bond to begin work to establish the standard inch. This led to the important development of the Rogers-Bond Comparator, accurate to one fifty-thousandth of an inch. This research helped P & W develop the mass production of interchangeable parts.

In 1901 Pratt & Whitney Company was purchased by the Niles-Bement-Pond Company . By that time they concentrated on the manufacture of machine tools, small tools and gauges. In 1925 the company began producing aircraft engines but by 1929 this function moved to another plant in East Hartford and became unaffiliated with the P & W Division of Niles-Bement-Pond Company, yet had paid for the rights to use the Pratt & Whitney name.

In 1945 Niles-Bement-Pond Company was acquired by Chandler Evans . Chandler Evans merged with Penn-Texas Corporation in 1955. Penn-Texas Corporation was renamed in 1958 as Fairbanks Whitney Corporation after it merged with Fairbanks Morse & Company . By 1960 the Pratt & Whitney Division employed over 2500 workers and produced more than 2000 items.

From the guide to the United Electrical, Radio & Machine Workers of America, Unity Lodge, Local 251 Records., 1937-1948., (Archives & Special Collections at the Thomas J. Dodd Center .)