June 24, 1993

Putting the final piece of a major economic puzzle for the Northeast in place, union workers at Pratt & Whitney agreed last night to a package of concessions that are aimed at keeping the company from moving a large portion of its operations out of Connecticut. The vote is expected to save more than 2,000 jobs in the state. The agreement gives Pratt & Whitney what it demanded -- tying wages to productivity and freezing raises until late 1995 -- in exchange for a promise not to use sub-contractors and to keep open its five plants in Connecticut open. After the state Government offered a package of tax cuts and grants worth $32 million, Pratt, a jet-engine manufacturer that is Connecticut's largest private employer, agreed not to move on the condition that the union accept the concessions package. Sacrifice for Security Economists and politicians warned before the vote that a departure by Pratt would have been disastrous for Connecticut's fragile economy, endangering Pratt subcontrators and costing millions of dollars in lost taxes. The company's employment in the state has already fallen to 17,200 from 28,800 in 1986.

The Economy Senate Democrats rejected the Republicans' budget alternative as the formal debate over President Clinton's budget package got under way. [ Page A1. ] The House endorsed the troubled Freedom Space Station by a hairline margin, putting space research and jobs ahead of cutting the budget deficit. [ A1. ]

Panel Acts on Base Closings In the first set of votes that will cause pain to many communities, a Government panel decided to close or shrink two Army bases but also spared two, one of them in New Jersey. Page A20. Iraqis Move Toward Iran Iraq moved troops toward Iran and put air defenses on alert in its largest mobilization since the gulf war, American officials said. Page A3. Nigeria Voids Its Elections The Nigerian military Government annulled the presidential elections held 11 days ago and abandoned its promise to hand power back to elected civilians soon. Page A8. Pratt & Whitney Pact Voted Union employees at Pratt & Whitney plants in Connecticut approved a package of contract concessions aimed at saving 2,300 jobs. Page B1.

June's languor has settled on the rich green reaches of the Palm Beach Polo and Country Club. Only the occasional golfer studiously addresses a ball on the shimmering, lush fairways, and there are just a few horses sheltering from the heat over at the cool emerald-painted barns. But the lassitude is deceptive, for the members of this haven for the moneyed are confronting a deeply unsettling matter. The Resolution Trust Corporation, the Federal agency assigned to clean up the savings and loan mess, now owns the place, after a default by its previous owner, and will sell it at a public auction on July 14. Maharajahs and Stars Even more distressing for a group of members who want to buy the club is what they call a near-betrayal by the Government: They say they got a pledge from Resolution Trust that they would have an advantage over other buyers at the sale, but now they fear that the agency, in an effort to help the taxpayer by getting the best price, will sell to a buyer who will destroy the club's exclusive way of life.

The grand debate over President Clinton's package of tax increases and spending cuts opened at last in the Senate today, and Democrats and Republicans, well aware that the outcome is predetermined, seized the occasion to paint the economic differences between them in the starkest political terms. The two sides suspended the invective long enough for the Republicans' alternative to the Democratic plan to be rejected. The Republican proposal would have capped spending on Federal benefit programs, frozen most other Federal spending and kept taxes at current levels. Republicans cast it as a tax-free way to reduce the Federal deficit; Democrats called it a sham because it simply decreed a halt to the explosive growth in benefits spending, without specifying how to halt it. A Turncoat in Each Camp The vote against the Republican plan was 55 to 43. One Democrat, Richard Shelby of Alabama, voted for it, and one Republican, James Jeffords of Vermont, joined the Democrats to vote against it.