The Upper Silesia 1980 strikes were widespread strikes, which took place mostly in the Upper Silesian mining cities Jastrzębie-Zdrój, Wodzisław Śląski and Ruda Śląska and its surroundings, during late August and early September 1980. They forced the Government of People's Republic of Poland to sign the last of three agreements establishing the Solidarity trade union. Earlier, agreements had been signed in Gdańsk and Szczecin. The Jastrzębie Agreement, signed on September 3, 1980, ended Saturday and Sunday work for miners, a concession that Government leaders later said cut deeply into Poland's export earnings.
Background
On August 14, 1980, workers of the Vladimir Lenin Shipyard in Gdańsk began a strike, demanding not only an increase in salaries, but also rehiring of Anna Walentynowicz and Lech Wałęsa, as well as the according of respect to workers' rights and other social concerns. Furthermore, they called for the legalization of independent trade unions. A Strike Committee, led by Wałęsa, was organized and the workers did not leave the shipyard, deciding to stay there for the night. Later, on the Strike Committee was turned into the City Strike Committee, also headed by Wałęsa.
In the following days, the strike spread to a growing number of factories all across the country, with numerous Inter-Enterprise Strike Committees (MKS) created in Szczecin, Wrocław, Wałbrzych, and other cities. By the end of August 1980, the protests reached Upper Silesian coal mines. The center of the protests in Upper Silesia was the Manifest Lipcowy Coal Mine in Jastrzębie-Zdrój, where the strike broke out on August 28. In August 1980, this mine employed some 10,000 people.
The strikes in Upper Silesia
The strike in Jastrzębie began when 1,000 of the staff of the Manifest Lipcowy mine did not begin the night shift, spurred by the news from Gdańsk, conveyed to them by Stefan Palka, future leader of the strike. According to the witnesses, right before going under the ground, someone in the crowd yelled: "Other mines in the area are already striking, what are we waiting for?" This information was false, but the strike nevertheless began. Within the next few hours, a Strike Committee was elected, headed by Palka. It demanded talks with the director of the mine, Władysław Duda. The "arrogant" Duda agreed, but during negotiations, he started insulting the workers, which heated up the situation. Therefore, he was asked to leave and talks were terminated.
The strike in the Manifest Lipcowy mine was directly connected with catastrophic situation of the miners and poor working conditions. As the strikers recollected in 2008,(please check the year) at the beginning, few of them thought about politics. They complained about lack of gloves, work boots and basic tools. They also claim that the strike could have been broken on the second day, had it not been for their wives and children, since units of the ZOMO surrounded the mine, and did not let anybody in and out. Only children with food parcels were allowed to come close to the fence. "Their support was like a shot of adrenaline to us, we knew that we were not alone" - recollected a miner 28 years later. A few hours after the Manifest Lipcowy mine, the XXX-lecia PRL mine also began the strike.
Since all mass-media was firmly controlled by the government, the workers of the Manifest Lipcowy mine turned for help to a local Roman Catholic church. Their delegation came to the church on August 29, at 6:30 in the morning, and asked the parish priest, Rev. Bernard Czernecki, to inform the faithful about the protest. Czernecki, as well as all local priests, agreed, and during Mass, they told all worshipers about the strike, promising all the help they needed. Also, the priests handed leaders of the strike their rosaries. These can be seen in archival photos of the Jastrzębie Agreement negotiations, as workers wore them on their necks.