Independent tram worker

This special edition of the strike bulletin Niezależny Tramwajarz (The Independent Tram Worker), published by the Provincial Municipal Transport Company (WPKM), consists of two pages covering the events of 27 and 28 August 1980. It reports primarily on the progress of negotiations between the striking workers in Szczecin and the government commission, the situation in other strike centres across the country, the Free Trade Union fund for which collections began on 26 August, and updates directly related to the WPKM factory strike committee.

Bulletins of this kind, like other independent publications at the time, aimed to provide information free from the propaganda of the ruling Polish United Workers' Party (PZPR), which dominated state-run media. Alongside the more widely distributed bulletin Jedność (Unity), some factory strike committees produced their own news bulletins, often in varied and non-standardised formats. The issue presented here is an example of this and is unique in the museum’s collection in that regard. Most strike-related publications from that period were printed on lightweight A5 sheets.

The Szczecin Inter-Enterprise Strike Committee (Międzyzakładowy Komitet Strajkowy, MKS) was formed on 18 August 1980 by the crews of three local shipyards. It was led by Marian Jurczyk. By the following day, workers from other enterprises had joined the strikes, including employees of the WPKM. In total, 340 workplace crews from the West Pomeranian region joined the wave of strikes across Poland in July and August 1980, all represented by the Szczecin MKS.

The agreement signed in Szczecin on 30 August 1980 between the government commission and the Inter-Enterprise Strike Committee was the first in the history of the Polish People's Republic to be concluded between striking workers and the authorities. It was followed by agreements signed in Gdańsk (31 August), Jastrzębie-Zdrój (3 September), and Dąbrowa Górnicza (11 September).