Polish union leaders push 'recall' of plant manager

August 25, 1981

Union leaders at Poland's biggest steel mill went ahead Monday with plans for a referendum on the replacement of the plant's controversial manager -- a development seen as a key test in a growing campaign for worker self-management.

The government of Gen. Wojciech Jaruzelski, which had denounced the referendum, also faced pressure on other fronts. The Solidarity union movement criticized proposed increases in the price of bread and cereals. Workers in the city of Radom set strike plans in motion. Printers in the northern city of Olsztyn refused to publish the local Communist Party newspaper for the sixth day.