POLAND: FORMER PRESIDENT LECH WALESA RETURNS TO SHIPYARD скачать в хорошем качестве

POLAND: FORMER PRESIDENT LECH WALESA RETURNS TO SHIPYARD

(2 Apr 1996) Polish/Nat Lech Walesa, seeking a pension after five years as Poland's president, went back to his old job as a shipyard electrician on Tuesday. But he didn't do any work. Walesa says he needs the job because he's been denied a Presidential pension and his bank accounts are frozen in a tax investigation. Dawn, and hundreds of workers are filing in to start their day at the Gdansk ship yards in Poland. But their normal routine was completely disrupted by a huge media turnout. After all, it's not everyday that the former president of a country turns up to take back his old job, even if he does arrive in a chauffeur driven state-owned Mercedes. Lech Walesa has technically been on a leave of absence during his five-year term as President but since the voters turned their backs on him in last November's Presidential elections, he has been beset with financial difficulties. He has been denied a presidential pension and his finances are frozen because of a tax investigation. Despite the early hour, he wasn't actually going to work, but was heading for a meeting with the shipyard management. SOUNDBITE: (Polish) I'll be late and there will be difficulties... please there will be a press conference later, let me get on with my work. SUPER CAPTION: Lech Walesa, Former Polish President His job had been held open for him at the shipyard where he rose to fame. Even so, shipyard officials said Walesa can't sit down and start repairing battery- powered carts with his old electricians' team until he undergoes and extensive medical checkup and takes a safety course. In 1980 he and the Solidarity trade union led a wave of strikes and protests which eventually helped topple the communist regime. He became president in 1990 and helped push through free-market and democratic reforms. But a Polish public reacted against the market reforms that left many of them poorer than they had been under the communists, voted for a government led by former communists. Now, in an ironic holdover from the communist laws that Walesa tried to repeal as president, he has a right to take up his old job at any time. This is despite the fact that the Gdansk shipyard faces bankruptcy because of a drop in orders and its failure to cut staff and employee benefits. Walesa said he hopes a Parliament vote on Presidential pensions later this month will ease his financial worries. SOUNDBITE: (Polish) I will abide by the law, this is also one of the reasons which forces me .... Since yesterday I have no income. I have to start a job to support my income. SUPERCAPTION: Lech Walesa, Former Polish President He brandished his old ship yard pass with pride, the first one he was ever issued was in 1967. That sort of loyalty to the yard is reflected in the sympathy he gets from his fellow workers. SOUNDBITE: (Polish) He has to return... SUPER CAPTION: Gdansk Ship Yard Worker SOUNDBITE: (Polish) Because the communists will destroy us completely.... SUPER CAPTION: Gdansk Ship Yard Worker SOUNDBITE: (Polish) Maybe he can help us, maybe things will change for the better SUPER CAPTION: Gdansk Ship Yard Worker This worker was involved in both the 1970 strikes, in which 44 people died during clashes with the communist regime, and the workers' occupation of the shipyards 1980-1 . He is pessimistic about the future. SOUNDBITE: I am an old sick man so I don't have a chance. I remember 1970 and 1981 when we were sleeping on the tarpaulins. I don't have a chance they will kick me out of the gate, that's the sad truth. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...