Welles and Workers Renew Negotiations On Union Demands

Employees and management of the Orson Welles resumed negotiations last Friday in a renewed attempt to settle a five-month-old dispute centering around employee demands for higher wages, health care program, union shop conditions, and other benefits.

A spokesman for the employee's union said yesterday talks were renewed after the wide range of issues would be settled more equitably and quickly without binding arbitration.

The workers, members of Local 262 of the United Electrical Workers, want their wages increased from $2.00 to $2.50 per hour, one employee said yesterday. "What we want is a decent and liveable wage," Mary Gallaway, a worker at the theater, explained yesterday.

Larry Jackson, general manager of the Cinema, last week termed the demands "unreasonable" and noted that employees already received wages higher than most cinema workers in the City.

The dispute began in March when employees, in an election supervised by the National Labor Relations Board, voted to unionize and affiliate with the UE.

The UE

The Union, in April, entered negotiations which continued until July 4 when two workers were suspended for union activities, one employee said.

The incident was brought before a Massachusetts labor mediator on July 13, but mediation broke down. The Union began leafletting that day in an effort to publicize its demands.

After a week, the management requested an halt to the leafletting and suggested that both sides submit to binding arbitration.

Before the case was presented to arbitration it was determined by both sides that the issues would be settled best by negotiations