The tram driver who carried the strike beyond the shipyard
On 15 August 1980, she stopped her tram near the Baltic Opera, helping set Gdańsk’s public-transport strike in motion.
Henryka Krzywonos was a Gdańsk tram driver and trade-union activist who connected action inside the shipyard with workers across the city. On 15 August 1980 she stopped her tram, helping launch the public-transport strike and spread the news that encouraged solidarity action in other workplaces. She represented transport workers in the Inter-Enterprise Strike Committee, signed the August Agreement, and later aided internees and distributed underground publications during martial law. Her later work running a family children’s home and serving in parliament linked shop-floor action with care and institutional politics.
Career Timeline
- 1973–1978Tram driver, Provincial Transport Company, Gdańsk
- 1978–1979Crane-equipment operator, Gdańsk Shipyard
- 1979–1980Tram driver, Provincial Transport Company, Gdańsk
- 1980Presidium member of the Inter-Enterprise Strike Committee, transport representative
- 1980Signatory of the Gdańsk August Agreement
- 1981–1989Aid to internees and underground publishing during martial law
- 1994–2009Director of a family children’s home, Gdańsk
- 2015–현재Member of the Sejm, eighth, ninth and tenth terms
- 2019–현재Work on women’s and children’s rights and social policy