Booksmith Employees Return As Strike at Warehouse Ends

Picketing ended at Paperback Booksmith yesterday, as workers approved a three-year contract with Learning Resources Incorporated (LRI), the parent company of the store.

The workers on strike were LRI warehouse employees who belong to District 65 of the Distributive Workers of America. They voted 35 to 7 to end the strike yesterday morning.

Employees at the Harvard Square branch of the store honored the picket lines although they were not involved in the contract dispute. Paul Ohrans, vice-president for operations of Paperback Booksmith manned the store with other managers during the strike.

Ohrans yesterday called the store workers' action "illegal" since their contract forbids them to strike. Letters of warning will probably be sent to them, he said.

Employees of other - Paperback Booksmiths in the Boston area crossed the picket lines. Peter Van Delft, vice-president of District 65, yesterday cited a recent Supreme Court decision banning picketing in privately-owned malls as largely responsible for the lack of support in the other stores.

The strike itself came about because LRI management would not guarantee a Boston location for the company's warehouse.

A compromise was reached on Thursday night between Van Delft and LRI president Marshall J. Smith with the provision that the warehouse would remain within "commuting distance" of its present location on Commonwealth Ave. "unless there are unforeseen or unexpected circumstances."