Word: gdansk
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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...
...government of Party Boss Edward Gierek had already granted some $117 million to other strikers during the first wave of protest. It refused, however, to roll back the price of meat. The situation took a dramatic 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...
Returning from a two-week trip to the Soviet Union, Gierek tried desperately to defuse the suddenly explosive situation. He canceled a scheduled summit meeting with West German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt,* and sent a task force to negotiate with the strikers in Gdansk. But the regime shrewdly insisted on talking to workers from individual factories, rejecting any dealings with the Interfactory Strike Committee based at the Lenin Shipyard. "They do not represent the workers," explained a Polish government spokesman in Warsaw. Added a party official in Gdansk: "We want each factory to settle individually...
...government propaganda campaign that stressed huge economic losses caused by the strikes. Seeking to erode popular support for the workers, the state television claimed that the strikes were costing millions of dollars a day and that needed food supplies were rotting in the holds of ships stacked up in Gdansk Harbor. Throughout the affected region, the lines at grocery stores grew ever longer as scarce supplies disappeared from the shelves. Said one of the members of the Gdansk Strike Committee: "We are aware of the economic losses. We promise to make up for them after our demands...