As the Cemetery Workers strike enters its sixth week the Emergency Committee for Jewish Burial yesterday called on Governor Nelson Rockefeller to make good a previous pledge that negotiations were to continue “around the clock” until a settlement was reached. The Committee’s findings, according to Rabbi Samuel Schrage, chairman of the Emergency group, “are shocking.” “We saw coffins by the hundreds piled in makeshift tents, laid on cemetery driveways, and storaged in tool sheds and warehouses as if it were excess baggage.” In addition it was ascertained that many coffins, in violation of health law, were not properly sealed. At least one cracked coffin was observed and there was evidence of leaks on other coffins. The Committee also questioned the added security promised by cemeteries particularly in view of the fact that Mount Hebron cemetery, as an example, was vandalized on the night of Wednesday February 11.
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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.
