About 3,000 labor union members went on strike early Monday at jet engine maker Pratt & Whitney in Connecticut, as negotiations over wages, retirement benefits and job security broke down.

Members of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers were picketing at manufacturing locations in East Hartford and Middletown, after about 77% of nearly 2,100 union members voted to approve their first strike since 2001, union officials said. Their contract expired late Sunday.

“Pratt and Whitney is a powerhouse in military and commercial aerospace products because our membership makes it so,” David Sullivan, the union’s eastern territory vice president, said in a statement. “This offer does not address the membership concerns, and the membership made their decision — we will continue to fight for a fair contract.”

Picketing workers lined and crossed streets near the entrances to the East Hartford and Middletown plants on a rainy Monday morning. Many of the signs said “I am on strike! against Pratt & Whitney,” while some read “Solidarity for Security” and “Together We Rise.”

Some workers said they were concerned that the company may move jobs and manufacturing out of the state to its plants in Georgia.

“They’re not giving us job security. We need time to be here,” union member Scott Westberg told WFSB-TV. “We want to be in Connecticut a long time. They’re trying to deteriorate the middle class, which is what we are. We are the blue collar.”