The approximately 400 group-work personnel of the Federation of Jewish Philanthropies of New York went on strike today because, as a spokesman put it, “management has made no move to date to come forward with anything.” The group workers have been seeking salary increases comparable to those granted last spring to Federation’s case workers, up to $300 a year.
Erik Strong, speaking for Local 1707, Community and Social Agency Employes Union, said the walkout affects 18 community centers and YMYWHA’s in the five boroughs and Westchester. Residents of the Y’s will not be affected, he said, except that “as far as we know” they will not be getting heat and other services, since the custodial staffs are among the strikers. “I don’t see how any of the centers can stay open.” Strong told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
A spokesman for Federation told the JTA that “in keeping with the provisions of the Federation bylaws.” Federation could not involve itself in the negotiations because “the strike by the members of Local 1707 is not a strike against the Federation but a strike against affiliated community centers.”
The spokesman added, however, that Federation was “deeply concerned” about the walkout because it was “affecting services to many of those who are least able to be without them,” namely, children and the aged. The negotiators for the centers and Y’s are Sidney Sugarman and Howard Lichtenstein.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
