Cambridge Groups Picket; City May Discuss Contract

A three-week long picket by members of two groups of City workers over a recent contract dispute ended last week as leaders of both groups expressed hope that City Manager John H. Corcoran would soon begin negotiations.

The dispute between the two groups--the police and blue-collar workers at Cambridge City Hospital--and the City revived attempts by Vice Mayor Henry F. Owens III to fire Corcoran.

Members of the Local 196 Union of hospital workers--nurses' aides, porters and orderlies--formed a picket line of off-duty workers outside Cambridge City Hospital. Off-duty policemen, carrying signs which read "The City Manager refuses to negotiate in good faith," marched in front of City Hall.

The picketing began on June 12 after a City Council meeting at which Council members voted 7-1 that Corcoran negotiate new contracts for the two groups. Both groups say that Corcoran had refused, until last week, to negotiate the contract which had been accepted by both this City Council and the previous one.

Corcoran Dismissal Urged

At the same meeting. Owens proposed that Corcoran be fired. The order fell one vote short of the five necessary for passage. Owens had originally voted against Corcoran's appointment and has consistently moved for his dismissal.

Harold Murphy, secretary-treasurer of the Policeman's Association, said Friday that his group had called off the picket because Corcoran had agreed to abide by the results of a fact-finding committee set up to investigate tenets of the new contract. Corcoran had previously refused to admit the results of the committee.

"We don't want to fire him [Corcoran]: That would leave us up the creek without a paddle. They should have thought of that [before they appointed him]," Murphy said. "We just want to get this contract negotiated," he said.

The contract for the police includes what they call "career incentives" including educational benefits, overtime for time spent in court, and increased longevity pay.

The hospital workers' contract includes an increase in maximum salary from $137.85 per week to around $150. They also ask that the City pay 75 per cent Blue Cross premiums.

Both groups' leaders said they had called pickets rather than strikes so as not to hurt the City.