“There was a stir and accidentally… a strike broke out. The strike didn’t erupt because the railwaymen went on strike, but because the welded train couldn’t move. And then they actually did strike, and those strikes spread across all of Poland,” said Andrzej Valenducq on Tomasz Sakiewicz’s program. The son of an employee of the Lublin Municipal Plants recounted the night-time rebellion of his father. That’s where it all began!
The strikes did not start in August 1980 but already in July in Lublin, with a very specific event. According to a widely known account, railwaymen who saw meat being transported east lost their tempers and welded the tracks. That welding of the tracks then triggered a series of strikes among railwaymen in Lublin, which spread throughout Poland and reached Gdańsk.
“The moment the tracks were welded was the beginning of the strikes,” stressed TV Republika editor-in-chief Tomasz Sakiewicz, who invited into his program a witness to this story – Mr. Andrzej Valenducq. The son of an employee of the Lublin Municipal Plants spoke about the night-time rebellion of his father. That’s where it all began!
“This story was told to me by my father, who came with me to France. He kept it to himself, afraid to reveal the truth of what had happened there. My father worked at the Lublin Meat Plant on Turystyczna Street. He was responsible for maintaining the operation of the production lines,”
began Mr. Andrzej, whose account indicates that it was indeed his father who was the spark that ignited the fire across Poland.
Namely:
“My father saw those wagons filled with meat, with cans of ham, and he seized the opportunity. On the night shift, when he was alone (his colleague was in another part of the plant), he decided to act. By training he was a locksmith-welder. He thought: the train has iron wheels, the rails are also iron… He welded the two parts together, which meant that when he finished the third shift, the team that brought in the locomotive – namely the railwaymen – had trouble starting the transport. There was a stir and accidentally… a strike broke out. The strike didn’t erupt because the railwaymen went on strike, but because the welded train couldn’t move. And then they actually did strike, and those strikes spread throughout Poland,” he said.