Strike in Poland Threatened by Official Union
The government-backed trade union threatened Thursday to call a strike if Polish authorities raise food prices next month.
The warning was published in the Communist Party newspaper Trybuna Ludu by the union known by its Polish acronym, OPZZ, and recalled the birth of the now banned Solidarity trade union in 1980--also in protest to planned price increases.
The union, established when Solidarity was outlawed in December, 1981, after a 16-month existence, said it would not stand idly by if the government implements a plan to raise prices by 14% for food, transportation and heating next month.
“We disapprove of another series of drastic price hikes, especially of food and social services,” the union said. “In case demands are not met, the OPZZ will support all actions that are in line with the regulations on the operation of the unions.”
The law on trade unions grants workers the right to go on strike, and the union statement was referring to that guarantee. A strike would be the first by an official Communist Party trade union in the Soviet Bloc, where even such a sharp threat by an official union is unprecedented.
“The people can turn out to the streets,” Politburo member Jan Glowczyk was quoted as telling Polish reporters recently.
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