Cambridge Unaffected By Telephone Strikes

Cambridge and the Boston area will only slightly feel the effects of the nationwide telephone strike crippling 43 states and the District of Columbia, a spokesman for the New England Telephone and Telegraph Company stated yesterday.

The only calls that will be affected are those to long distance areas with which Boston is not directly connected by dialing system. Most long distance calls can be dialed by the operators in Boston, eliminating the necessity for an operator at the other end.

A temporary full in service this afternoon was caused by some 60 operators' walking off their jobs to atend a union meeting, but they later returned after deciding not to strike.

Of the 18,000 telephone operators in the New England Company, only 300 are members of the striking Communications Workers of America (C.I.O.). The others belong to the New England Federation of Telephone Operators, which is in no way involved in the present disputes. There are currently 67,250 telephone workers out on strike.