Strike Causes No Grave Delay At Pusey Site

The construction of the Nathan M. Pusey Memorial Library will not face a serious delay because of the on-going strike of heavy equipment operators in construction projects throughout Massachusetts, a Buildings and Grounds official of the library project said yesterday.

Robert Thomas, manager of construction for B&G, said the strike, which began on March 11 over a contract dispute between the Operating Engineers Union and contractors, "is not adversely affecting the project."

Insignificant Situation

He said the strike "is a very insignificant situation as far as we are concerned at the moment," but declined to comment further.

A construction supervisor at the library site said, however, that the strike is affecting the people who operate the cranes and smaller equipment and is pushing schedules behind.

He said that several workers had to be laid off and that "if the strike is not settled quickly there will probably have to be more layoffs."

Difficult To Say

Robert Burbank, project supervisor in the planning office, said it is difficult to say whether the strike will significantly delay construction of the library, but "work on the project will certainly be minimized."

Burbank said he can not speculate on how long the strike will last. He added that if the strike continues for two or three months, "work will pretty much stop. It becomes un-economical after a point."

Walter J. Ryan, business manager of the Operating Engineer's Local Number 4, said negotiations to end the strike and work out a contract started almost immediately but stopped soon after because of a deadlock.