NEWS

18/04/2019

09:59

Wałęsa to Teachers: Stand on Your Heads to Pay Strikers Double. Grit Your Teeth, We'll Wait for a Change of Government, Then We'll Reach an Agreement

Twice in the same way they tried to break our strike in 1980. Standing at this gate, I heard the management announce that at the moment when families gathered here to collect their pay from the shipyard workers, we would only pay those not on strike. It was a provocation similar to what's happening now. To pit us against each other, to divide us, so that our wives and mothers would pull us out of the strike. I immediately announced that we would pay the strikers double. I appointed one of the biggest activists at that time, Jacek M., and he paid out the money immediately. I suggested to the teachers that in these circumstances, you should do the same. Stand on your heads to pay the strikers double, so that this government yields like that government did – said Lech Wałęsa during a press conference. - I would do this. I would sit down at the table, see what they propose, and say: thank you very much, it's impossible to reach an agreement with you. We are leaving. Teachers, grit your teeth, we will wait for a change of government, and then there will be an agreement – added the former president.