Apparel workers ratify contract, brief pay freeze

Apparel workers in the men's and boy's clothing industry ratified by a 92 percent vote a three-year contract which freezes wages for six months and then provides for a wage increase of about 17 percent, beginning in October, Monitor correspondent Ed Townsend reports.

Murray H. Finley, president of the Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers, says the contract is ''particularly excellent in light of current economic conditions.'' The agreement covers 70,000 workers, about 20,000 of them in New York City.