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In the US, we take labor unions for granted. To many, it seems like they have always been around.

But in 1980, labor unions in countries under the grip of the Soviet Union we're totally hostile to labor unions. That's why it made huge news 40 years ago this week, when workers in the Gdansk shipyards of Poland formed a labor union called solidarity.

With the implicit blessing of the communist government.

And Solidarity was not limited to shipyard workers. Teachers and other educators also wanted in on the movement, and that's where Kazimierz Wierzbicki comes in. He was one of the early organizers of those educators