At Cambion the strike continues

This Thursday will mark six months on the picket line for 250 striking workers at Cambridge's Cambion Corporation. But, despite countless bargaining sessions and a recent attempt by the Cambridge City Council to intervene, the violence-plagued strike appears no closer to a settlement than when it began.

The dispute between Cambion and Local 262 of the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America came up for discussion before the City Council on September 27 after Councillor Daniel Clinton had requested that City Manager James L. Sullivan prepare a report on the strike and the escalating violence in recent weeks.

Sullivan's report wasn't ready for the meeting, but union spokesmen were, and charges of police provocations and unfair labor practices by Cambion found a sympathetic audience among several councillors.

Mayor Alfred E. Vellucci asked that the council send letters to both Massachusetts Senators and Congressman Tip O'Neill requesting them to intervene to terminate federal contracts with Cambion, and Saundra Graham proposed that a special 24-hour police detail at Cambion be ended pending Cambion's agreement to bargain in good faith with the union.

Vellucci's motion failed, but he said he would send the letters from the mayor's office anyway. Graham's motion was tabled pending release of the city manager's report.

After viewing the report last Monday the council decided that because of the city's potential liability the police detail would have to be continued. But the council did pass a motion requesting the city manager to do "everything in his power" to settle the strike.

What this means, according to Robert Healy, assistant city manager, is that Sullivan will try to arrange meetings between the union and management to "facilitate" an agreement.

But last week union officials weren't optimistic that much good would come from the meetings, if they occur. They point out that Cambion has refused a recent offer by the union to participate in binding arbitration with the American Arbitration Association. And on Monday a bargaining session with a federal mediator ended with the company refusing to meet again with the union unless it accepts the wage provisions of Cambion's original and only offer of April 14.

On November 17 the National Labor Relations Board is scheduled to begin prosecuting Cambion for refusal to bargain in good faith.

Meanwhile, Philip Mamber, field organizer for the union, said yesterday, "We're determined to keep the strike going until the company bargains in good faith and we get a fair economic ruling."

Cambion management has refused to comment on the strike.