Polish unrest grows

Press, 26 November 1980, Page 8

Polish unrest grows

NZPA-Reuter Warsaw Poland faced further; labour unrest yesterday with; the threat of a shut-down by-i rail workers and a sit-in byu factory employees angered; at the arrest of an independent trade union official. Four regiohal leaders lost their jobs yesterday in a big i local-government shake-up . and the official Soviet news I agency, Tass said the threat of further strikes by inde- : pendent. trade ' unionists : could affect the’ country’s b national and defence , inter-11 ests. . ’■ ■Railway workers stopped;) commuter services for twnjl hours (in . Warsaw and;' Gdansk yesterday andi; threatened to’ close down thel

•same lines for four hours] ■ today if agreement was not; (reached on the distribution! ;of their $6.4 million pay! deal. No progress has been! i reported so far. j In Warsaw, some 600; workers spent the night oc-j copying the huge Ursusi tractor plant to back! demands for the release ofi Jan Narozniak, a member of the-Solidarity independent! trade-union movement ar-j rested on charges of illegally reproducing State' documents, unionists said, j I Solidarity leaders gave aj (warning at a press confer-j ence that there would be; (further strikes throughout the country if Mr Narozniak, a prirZer, were not released. I The railway, dispute was

(greeted with unusually swift! ! reaction from the Soviet j Union when rhe official Tass] i news agency spoke of con-i cern that an all-out strike! (could affect the country’s: [defence interests. | A Tass dispatch from I Warsaw said that the. twoI hour railway stoppage was; (being seen as'evidence of! ! activity designed to maintain tension in Poland.

I The Polish flews agency, ; Pap, said' that four-- regional I leaders had lost their jobs in the local-government shakeup, bringing to more than 20 the number of regional party and government leaders who have lost their jobs since the summer labour revolt.