Miners Still Out Despite Walesa Plea

Solidarity founder Lech Walesa’s leadership of the banned union came under challenge today from coal miners who refused to heed his call to end strikes in the northwest port city of Szczecin and in a Silesian coal mine.

The Solidarity leader Thursday called for an unconditional end to two weeks of strikes in four industrial centers following a concession by the government, which agreed to discuss the possible revival of Solidarity in upcoming talks.

Thousands Heed Request

Thousands of workers in the shipyards and port of Gdansk and in the huge Stalowa Wola steelworks in the southeast heeded his request. But those in the Baltic port of Szczecin and in the July Manifesto coal mine in southwest Poland said they must resolve local differences, including the issue of security for the striking workers.

In addition, three more coal mines that had struck two weeks ago--Borynia, Moszczenica and 30 Lecie PRL (30 Years of Peoples Poland)--readied to strike again because of the lack of progress over the issue of job and pay security at the July Manifesto coal mine.

It was the July Manifesto strike on Aug. 16 that touched off the wave of labor unrest across Poland that reached its height last week when more than 20 enterprises were strikebound.

In Szczecin, strike committees representing dockworkers and 500 to 700 bus and tram drivers said they will end their strike only on the condition that management provide job security for the leaders of the transport strike.

“There was a complete lack of good will on the part of authorities,” union spokesman Artur Balasz said.

Official Visits Mine

Prime Minister Zbigniew Messner visited the Borynia mine near the Czechoslovakia border to discuss the causes of the wave of strikes, the official news agency PAP said.

Walesa had called for an end to the strikes after a meeting Wednesday with Interior Secretary Czeslaw Kiszczak to discuss the possible revival of Solidarity in upcoming round-table talks. The union Walesa was instrumental in founding in 1980 was outlawed Dec. 13, 1981, following the imposition of martial law.

The difficulties in ending the strikes reflected apparent confusion and crossed signals between federal and local government leaders over how to negotiate with the strikers.