To Lane Kirkland, President, AFL-CIO (30 August 1981)
Dear Sir:
On the TV news on August 27th I heard that you intend to go to Gdansk for a Solidarity meeting. I am a Polish-born American and greet most enthusiastically your desire to join that meeting in Poland as your presence there will give the Polish workers support in their fight. At the same time, however, I think this trip will also be profitable for the American unions because of the experience you will have there. With this in mind, I would like to share with you certain informative comments which might be useful to you and give you something to think about when you are in Poland.
There is a great difference between the Polish Solidarity union and the American unions. Just a few days ago one of my articles on this subject was printed in a local newspaper. In it I pointed out and explained the differences between the Polish strikers fighting for a piece of bread and a little bit of independence for Poland, risking their own lives because of the ever-present danger the Russian army represents, whereas at the same time the American air controllers broke their oath and are rather risking the lives of other people while fighting for their own selfish profit.
Then there is another difference between the American and the Polish union. To me, the American unions seem to be at times on the verge of being ridiculous, unpatriotic, and irresponsible when they chose their own interests over American interests. To help you understand the difference between the idealistic Polish union and the American unions, I will ask you to make two very sharp comparisons: compare your income with that of Lech Walesa, and compare the inflationary demands for raises in America with the living conditions of Polish workers!
There is another problem with the American unions which somehow bothers me from the point of logic: for years you fought for retirement benefits for the American workers. Then, after achieving that goal, you started to fight for higher wages which, without a doubt, is also one of the causes of inflation. In consequence, when the workers reach retirement age, the benefits the unions obtained for them will not be worth peanuts (no allusion to the previous peanut president).
Another example is the car industry in Detroit. The unions, in their desire to get applause from their workers, managed to get for them a $20 per hour wage (whereas in other industries the same kind of job pays only one-half that amount). In doing so, they closed the world market for American vehicles and opened the world market (including the American market) for Japanese vehicles. In this way, the union cut the branch on which the American worker sat.
I hope that you will have enough opportunity in Poland to learn and understand the many facts of the conditions in Poland which came as consequence after an American president, supposedly representing the idea of freedom and liberty, in Yalta gave into Russian slavery among others Poland, the country of Copernicus, Chopin, Curie Sklodowska, Kosciuszko, and Pulaski.
When you are in Poland, I trust that you will understand that today not one dollar more per hour for an American worker is important (for which American unions are fighting) but that the real problem now is that, because of the terrifying Russian military build-up and the American deficiency in that respect, the existence of America itself, and what America represents, is at stake. In Poland you will also be able to observe what communist Russia has in store for the world, and you will see and understand that those enslaved Polish workers are fighting for some liberty and freedom and a piece of bread, all of which the American worker has so plentifully without appreciating it.
And now my last comment: President Reagan is changing the direction of the American policy. Where in this situation are you, Mr. Kirkland? And where are the other union members? I hope that you will see that we have reached the point where American interests and security must have priority over everything else, including unions.
I wish you a good trip and hope that your visit to Poland will be beneficial for the Polish and the American workers.
Yours very truly,
Waclaw Bakierowski, Minister Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Poland (in Exile)