Local Workers Visit AFL at MIT; 'Cliffe Maids to Ask Pay Increase

Interest in the American Federation of Labor rose yesterday as several maids and janitors visited M.I.T. to see how five years of the A.F. of L. had helped working conditions there. The A.F. of L. is now trying to set up a local here, to replace the present Employees' Representative Association.

There has been a local at M.I.T. for five years. Before that, Secretary Joseph L. McCarthy told the federation, working conditions were "unbelievable." Maids got a little over half of what their Harvard counterparts were making," he said, "and there was no sickness leave provision in their contracts."

Won't Surpass Harvard

M.I.T. employees earn slightly less than Harvard's; but this is because Tech refuses to surpass the University, McCarthy said. Officials there claim Harvard is the richest university in the country, and it would be impossible to equal its wages.

McCarthy later told the CRIMSON that the A.F. of L. wanted to push wages up in Harvard so that other colleges would have to follow suit.

Meanwhile, Radcliffe's A.F. of L. local decided last night to work for an increase. Annex maids make as much money as the maids here. Previously, the Radcliffe administration also had refused to go above the Harvard level.