22/04/81: Metal workers strike in West Germany

On Wednesday 22 April 1981 an estimated one million metalworkers in West Germany staged warning strikes as union and industry negotiators met in an effort to break a deadlock in wage talks and avert a nationwide walkout.
The metalworkers' employers were offering a 4.1 percent wage increase plus more for lower-paid workers. They maintained that these changes and the previous year's agreement for higher holiday pay in 1981 are the equivalent of an increase of 4.7 percent.


Union leaders, who began the talks in January by demanding an 8 percent raise, were now insisting on at least 5 percent.

pic: welt.de

source: nytimes.com

27/3/81: 'Warning strike' in Poland

On Friday 27 March 1981 the four-hour 'warning strike' took place in Poland, one of the largest in the history of the Polish labour movement and certainly the largest in the history of the former Soviet bloc.

pic: V&A