The World : Solidarity Calls for Strikes

Poland’s outlawed Solidarity labor movement said that workers should strike to demand more pay to compensate for sweeping price increases imposed by the government this week. It was unclear what effect the call by Solidarity’s underground wing, the Temporary Coordinating Commission, would have on Polish workers, since the union’s role has diminished in factories and workplaces around the country. The statement did not set any date for a strike but left the decision on stoppages to workers at individual factories. Solidarity leader Lech Walesa avoided directly endorsing the call for the strikes. “We don’t want to strike, but if there are no concrete (economic) reforms in the country, we have to fight for them,” he said.