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Tomasz Surowiec (* 1949  †︎ 2016)

• Urodzony 5 marca 1949 r. w Łodzi, Polska

• Ukończył Przyzakładową Zasadniczą Szkołę Zawodową w Łasku o specjalności kierowca mechanik,

• W latach 1971-76 pracował jako kierowca autobusowy w Miejskim Przedsiębiorstwie Komunikacyjnym w Łodzi,

• Od 1976 r. do 1981 r., a następnie od 1982 r. pracował jako kierowca autobusowy we wrocławskim MPK,

• 26-31 VIII 1980 r. współorganizator i uczestnik strajku w Zajezdni VII MPK przy ul. Grabiszyńskiej we Wrocławiu,

• Członek Prezydium Miejskiego Komitetu Strajkowego,

• Od IX 1980 r. skarbnik Międzyzakładowej Komisji Związkowej „S”,

• 3 XII 1981 r. brał udział w ukryciu 80 milionów „Solidarności” uratowanych z banku przez Józefa Piniora i Piotra Bednarza

• 13/14 XII 1981 r. podjął próbę rozpoczęcia strajku w MPK i Państwowej Fabryce Wagonów Pafawag,

• od 1981 r. w ukryciu,

• 1982-89 uczestnik manifestacji w obronie więźniów politycznych, współorganizator zbiórek dla represjonowanych,

• Od 1990 r. przewodniczący Międzyzakładowej Organizacji Związkowej „S” przy wrocławskim MPK.

Tomasz Surowiec was born on 5 March, 1949 in Łódź. After graduating from Factory Basic Vocational School in Łask in 1971 with the driver-mechanic speciality, he began working as a bus driver in MTC, the public transport operator in Łódź. In 1976 he moved to Wrocław, where he was hired at the same position, in MTC in Wrocław.

On 26 August, 1980, a strike began in the Depot VII of the MTC in Wrocław, co-organized by Tomasz Surowiec. Through his colleagues form the Workers’ Defence Committee, he received an information about the 21 demands of the striking shipyard in Gdansk. He decided to spread them among the bus drivers of MPK in Wrocław: “I have such documents, I have such knowledge, I have such bulletins from Gdansk, I wanted to popularize them, get my friends familiar with them. And so a group of about a few dozen of people, hard to say, 30 maybe, because they were straggling in, not at once but gradually. I read the Gdansk demands, I told what I had learned from the bulletins and from what I’d heard from my friend Pawlik, what the situation looked like. We made a unanimous decision that we were beginning a solidarity strike.”

He became a member of the Inter-company Strike Committee, he was taking part in its activity, e.g. he was one of those who appointed the leader of the Committee: “And so we chose Jurek Piórkowski, all the staff had enormous confidence in him.

 He was a long-term worker of MTC, despite being the party’s secretary. He was the party’s secretary, he was high in rank in the executive structure and after a discussion we decided to choose him, because he was a good choice, we were protected by the party in a way and because he was liked by the rest of the staff, he was respected by his co-workers. So he became the leader of the strike committee, he remained the leader to the end.”

Many people became euphoric when the strike ended and the Gdansk demands were accepted. Tomasz Surowiec enthusiastically participated in the work of the Lower Silesia “Solidarity”. Since September, 1980 he acted as a collector of the Intercompany Commission “Solidarity”. He participated in the taking out of the 80 million from the Lower Silesian bank accounts on 3 December, 1981. On 13/14 December, 1981, together with Piotr Bednarz, Józef Pinior and Władysław Frasyniuk, he attempted to organize a strike in  MTC in Wrocław and in the National Rail Carriage Factory Pafawag, later he was in hiding. He was not interned and as he claims himself, he served as a “bait” for the government.

In the years 1982-89, he took part in the demonstrations in defence of the political prisoners and oppressed people, as well as in collections of clothes, food and money for them.

 He was detained and questioned by the Voivodship Headquarters of Citizen’s Militia many times. “I can’t say it was in any way brutal, at least not in my case. So there was no beating or anything like that, for sure. Some very brutal interrogations. They did try to break me, I was here, the family, I had a small child, about one-year old or so. But there were no situations like... And I was followed, of course. I’ll tell you this, when I lived at St. Matthew Square, a mile from Wyszyńskiego Street, when I was coming home from my mother-in-law, the militia stopped me many times, searched my trunk, and on such occasions this relation sort of... I was out.”

 In 1988 he co-organized strikes in the MTC in Wrocław and since 1990 he has been the chairman of the Intercompany Trade Union Organization NSZZ “Solidarity”.