3-month letup in strikes ended by Polish dockers

Dockers halted work on at least 60 ships in Baltic ports for one hour Wednesday in Poland's first big strike in three months. The stoppage by 46,000 workers in ports from Szczecin to Gdansk coincided with warnings that industrial protests could jeopardize next week's National Communist Party Congress.

The dockers' action protested government failure to keep a pledge to grant a port workers' charter on conditions and rights by July 1. A communique by the strike committee demanded the government accept their demands for a port charter by July 15 or else a general strike of all Polish seaports would take place.

The action came as employees of the national airline, LOT, debated whether to go ahead with a 4- hour strike today (June 9).