The Federation of Jewish Philanthropies of Greater New York and Local 1707 of the Community and Social Agency Employes, AFL-CIO, continued negotiations late this afternoon in an effort to avert a reported threat by the Federation to cancel its summer programs for youngsters. According to the union, the Federation had warned that if its group-work agency employees would fail to sign a new contract by today, it would cancel its sleep-away and in-city summer camps, teen and kindergarten programs. No statements were available from either the Federation or the union today, as spokesmen from both groups were locked in negotiation talks since the morning. The group-work agencies number 21, including associated and independent agencies, YM-YWHAs and the Educational Alliance. They employ a total of 450 personnel, including professionals, social workers, recreational workers, community organizers, clerical help and maintenance men.
The contract between Federation and the group-work agencies officially ended Jan, 21, but continued past that date in de facto effect. Management, according to a statement last Friday by Eric Strong, spokesman for Local 1707, declared April that the contract would end April 5, and that it wanted a settlement by last Friday. Strong said the Federation set tomorrow as the day of cancellation of this summer’s programs if there is no settlement by then. In a separate development, as reported earlier, 800 Local 1707 employes at seven autonomous Federation agencies may call a strike, authorized last Wednesday at a meeting of the Local. The agencies’ attorney I. Robert Feinberg, could not be reached immediately for comment. A strike would not affect the 275 union members employed at Federation headquarters whose contract expires in June.
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.
