Iconic shipyard threatened

last updated 8 January 2015

Gdansk, Poland

The Polish shipyard whose workers formed the legendary Solidarity union is fighting an E.U. order to cut jobs. Polish shipyards have taken in nearly $2 billion in E.U. aid since 2004, when Poland joined the E.U., yet the Gdansk yard is still operating at a loss. E.U. officials say the yard must cut manufacturing capacity and restructure; later, when it becomes profitable, it can hire back laid-off workers. But for the Poles, layoffs are unthinkable. Parliamentary elections are likely this year, and both Poland’s ruling party and main opposition party are packed with former Solidarity supporters. The Solidarity union, formed in the 1980s by electrician Lech Walesa, spearheaded a wave of opposition to corrupt communist governance throughout the then–Warsaw Pact countries. By 1990, communism in Europe was finished and Walesa became Poland’s president.