Nearly 3,600 Sikorsky Aircraft employees in Connecticut and Florida went on strike Monday, blaming higher health insurance costs in the company's contract offer as the reason for their walkout. Workers with Local 1150 of the Teamsters overwhelmingly rejected the contract and voted Sunday in favor of the strike, the company's first since 1963. The union represents 3,500 workers at the helicopter maker in Connecticut and 90 employees in Florida.
See "Helicopter Company Sikorsky Is Struck by 3,600 Teamsters", Associated Press, Los Angeles Times, February 20, 2006