Labor Chiefs Attack Curry In Pay Debate

City Manager John J. Curry '19 was branded as a former "champion for the masters" by labor representatives seeking a flat $440 yearly pay increase for all City of Cambridge employees, at an executive session of the City Council yesterday.

One of the seven labor representatives called Curry "one of those rigid disciplinarians when it comes to business," while another reproached him for his "schoolmaster background." They were bargaining for the same pay raise which firemen and policemen received this year.

Curry insisted that until the city received the "cherry-sheets" from the State Government, he could only promise workers in the remaining departments an increase of seven per cent. The "cherry-sheets" list the municipalities' credits and debits with the state.

John Massena, one of the workers, argued that percentage pay raises were unfair for the beginning workers and that the proposed $500 ceiling on salary increases was unrealistic since few few if any city employees earned salaries this high. He and other spokesmen asked the Council to pass an order endorsing the $440 figure.

He was informed by Mayor Eddie Sullivan that the Council has already passed an order in support of a flat $440 salary increase, but that it was the City Manager's prerogative to make appropriations. The Council, however, has the right to dismiss him at any time by a majority vote.

Councilor Hyman Pill reminded Curry that he had promised that the city workers in Cambridge would be the best payed in the state. The workers then agreed to wait until the "cherry-sheets" arrived. "We will see if the city manager will support our interest as he has supported the interests of the masters," concluded Jeremiah F. Sheah, an A.F.L.-C.I.O. representative.