Striking Sikorsky Aircraft workers said Tuesday they don't think engineers and supervisors can fill in for them building helicopters for a number of reasons, but mostly due to a shortage of parts.

The 3,600 members of Teamsters Local 1150 went on strike this week when Sikorsky offered a contract that would raise their health-care contributions by 15 percent in 2007 and more than 30 percent in 2008. The company was offering to increase wages by 3.5 percent each year of the three-year contract. While workers are striking, Sikorsky said supervisors would fill their positions on the line.

"I'd like to know how they're getting parts," said 25-year-veteran Sikorsky worker Mike Avery, who was picketing outside the company's Bridgeport plant on South Avenue. He added that the supervisors and engineers might not have the required certificates to work on the helicopters.

Surrounded by fellow Teamsters, the workers said they've had problems finishing jobs at the plant because parts from Sikorsky vendors weren't available.

The company maintains that engineers and supervisors are continuing to work on helicopters and released a photo showing a helicopter being test-flown Tuesday morning in Stratford.

"We continue to put in place our contingency plan," said Sikorsky Spokesman Ed Steadham. "We're continuing to build helicopters."

Steadham said he would not engage in a battle with the union in the media. In Stratford, striking workers

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Roseanne Jankauskas, with 27 years of experience, and her sister, Ruthie Wieczorkowski, with 25, walked the line on a chilly Tuesday morning, following in footsteps of their father, Victor Lastaukas.

The sisters said they buried their father in January. He worked for Sikorsky for more than 25 years.

Both women said they wondered how supervisors and engineers could be building helicopters without parts.

Jankauskas said she's involved with distribution, and that there were many idle workers before the strike because parts weren't coming in from vendors.

Wieczorkowski said it's almost like the company offered workers a contract they couldn't accept in order to blame the strike for falling behind on defense contracts, when the real problem is the inability to obtain parts.

Workers remained in good spirits Tuesday, and in Bridgeport, some even yelled out to a supervisor who was walking through the parking lot, "Go get 'em Ronnie!"

Pickets remained posted at Sikorsky's operations on Main Street in Stratford, on South Avenue in Bridgeport and at the company's West Haven, Shelton and Florida plants, according to the union. Traffic backed up onto Route 15 on Tuesday as salaried and contract workers arrived for work at the Stratford plant but had trouble getting through the gates. The union has stopped picketing the gate closest to the Merritt Parkway off-ramp, but delays continued.

Jankauskas and Wieczorkowski said they are upset by the company's medical benefits package and its decision to try to take away the voluntary early retirement insurance benefit.

The benefit provides life insurance coverage and covers the gap in insurance coverage of workers who retire before they can collect Medicare. It was their father's life insurance that covered his funeral expenses, Wieczorkowski said.

Jankauskas said she takes medication, and under the plan being offered, her prescription bill would climb to $400 a month. In Bridgeport, Avery and other striking workers said Sikorsky employees have problems with asthma and diabetes and several other chronic conditions requiring regular medication.

While on strike, workers do not receive health-care coverage or pay. They are being promised $232 per week in strike pay by the union, according to workers.

Jankauskas said she was lucky enough to be able to get onto her husband's health plan.

Others said they're just going without and praying nothing bad happens.

One man in Bridgeport joked, "I've got my kids wrapped in bubble wrap."

Max Brown, the son of striking Sikorsky worker Michael Brown, marched in Stratford holding a sign that said, "Dad, can I sign up for baseball? No, we can't afford the insurance."

Harvey Jackson, Local 1150 president, said the union has attempted to contact Sikorsky, but has not heard back from the company.

Striking workers have charged the company with failing to bargain in good faith, and Jackson confirmed that the union's lawyers are considering whether the union should file a grievance with the National Labor Relations Board.

As the strike entered day two, Sikorsky's parent company, United Technologies Corp., received praise from Fortune magazine as the "Most Admired" aerospace and defense company for the sixth year in a row. The magazine ranks companies based on innovation, employee talent, use of corporate assets, social responsibility, quality of management, financial soundness, long-term investment and quality of products/services, according to UTC.

Shares of UTC closed up 83 cents to $58.83 in Tuesday trading on the New York Stock Exchange.

Rob Varnon, who covers business, can be reached at 330-6216.

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