Employees Cease Restaurant Strike

A one-day strike by eight members of the Independent Restaurant Workers Union (IRWU) against the Havah Nagilah Restaurant in Boston ended Saturday when the union and the restaurant's management agreed on a new contract.

About 15 members of the Radcliffe-Harvard New American Movement participated in picketing the restaurant Friday night.

Although both sides said that there compromise in the settlement, the union's secretary, Kate White, said, "We wouldn't have stopped the strike if we hadn't won."

She said that issues in the strike included wages, seniority, scheduling of raises, and a management request that the union post a $50,000 bond against future work stoppages. Except for wages of cooks, which she described as "not as high as we would like them to be," White said that the union was satisfied with the settlement.

Eli Cohen, one of the managers of the restaurant, said that the strike involved "only wages." "We signed a contract that was reasonable for me and reasonable for them," he said.

The negotiations and subsequent picketing were tense. "The strike was provoked in part by threats of violence during the negotiations," White said.

Cohen responded, "When a meeting blows up it's from both sides. There were some words coming from us and some words coming from them."

Cambridge police were called several times during Friday night's picketing. When the management complained that marchers were blocking the sidewalk, police asked the strikers to reduce the size of the picket line.

Although passersby sometimes had to pass single file by the picket line, the sidewalk and the entrance to the restaurant were not fully blocked by the demonstrators.

No customers were seen entering the restaurant between 7:30 and 9:30. Although he admitted that business was hurt by the strike, Cohen said that was not a factor in the resumption of negotiations the next day.

Strike Three

IRWU is the new name of the Harvard Square Waitresses Organizing Committee, which two years ago conducted a lengthy strike against Cronin's Restaurant in Harvard Square.

Last February, IRWU began a strike against the Pewter Pot restaurant in Copley Square, Boston. The restaurant eventually was shut down, an action which White says was illegal.

NAM member Mary Lassen, who received the call from the IRWU asking for NAM participation in the picketing, said, "We think IRWU is an important union to support, because they are organizing people who haven't been organized before, including women."