Strike Slows Lamont Work

A three-week old strike of bricklayers is slowing down construction schedules on the partially completed Lamont Library, but contractors yesterday declined to speculate on whether the stoppage would seriously delay completion of the building next fall.

The masons walked out April 1 after negotiations to renew their freshly-expired contract had failed to reach a wage figure acceptable to both the union and the contractors. The bricklayers are asking a 35 cent an hour raise over the $2.15 amount they received under the old contract. The Fuller Contracting Company has countered by proffering a 20 cent hourly increase.

Since the strike started, the parties have been meeting every day without result. Work on the stone coping, all the interior partitions and on the penthouse stop the structure has been halted by the strike which is now affecting other workers. Carpenters and electricians are gradually laying down their tools as they catch up to the masonry work finished before the strike.