Polish parliamentary panel backs union for farmers

Polish authorities announced Thursday night that a parliamentary commission has recommended legalization of an independent union for the country's 3.5 million private farmers. The announcement on national television came after farmers, 20 of whom were staging a hunger strike, campaigned for union rights and occupied a second public building, this time in the city of Inowroclaw.

The announcement said Prof. Jan Szczepanski, head of the Sejm (parliament) committee set up to examine the farmers' case, had recommended that their right to form an independent trade union be included in the new t rade union law.