Word: baltics
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Warsaw's leaders were hardly less bewildered themselves last week as a strike by shipyard workers in the Baltic port of Gdansk spread to about 400 factories and enterprises along the northern seacoast and affected key industrial centers in the south. By week's end an estimated 150,000 workers had walked off the job, and there were rumors that Warsaw would be hit by a paralyzing general strike. In an apparent attempt to head off that prospect, the government relented on its earlier refusal to deal with the strike leaders and sent a deputy premier to meet with them...
...turn two weeks ago, when 16,000 employees of the Lenin Shipyard in Gdansk suddenly walked off the job and seized control of the sprawling complex. They were soon joined by city bus drivers and workers at 17 nearby factories and enterprises, virtually shutting down the country's major Baltic seaport...
Work stoppages also broke out at the massive Nowa Huta steel complex, near Cracow. There were even reports of strike activity in the mining region of Silesia, Gierek's birthplace and political stronghold. At the Gdansk shipyard, which remained the nerve center of the Baltic upheaval, workers set up a central committee that claimed to represent the striking factories and enterprises along the coast...
...years ago, violent food price riots broke out in the grimy Baltic seaport of Gdansk, spread rapidly to other regions and threatened to sweep the country. The government's brutal response left hundreds of workers dead and forced the resignation of Communist Party Leader Wladyslaw Gomulka. His successor, Edward Gierek, had good cause to reflect upon those events last week. The workers of Gdansk were up in arms again: 16,000 angry employees of the Lenin Shipyard went on strike and occupied the sprawling complex. They were soon joined by bus drivers and workers at some 17 other factories...
...meat supply, mostly the better cuts, would be sold in special stores at prices that are often double those in regular butchershops. When Polish workers get angry, the regime has learned to take them seriously. Ten years ago, the government used force to halt strikes in the Baltic ports against high food prices. The ensuing bloodshed-hundreds of workers were killed-led to the downfall of Party Chief Wladyslaw Gomulka. Gierek, who replaced him, prudently called off another attempt to raise meat prices four years ago. This time Gierek has chosen to defuse the confrontation by granting wage increases...