WORLD : Gdansk Shipyard May Stay Open

WARSAW — Poland’s new Solidarity-led government said today it is preparing to cancel a decision by the previous Communist administration to shut the Gdansk shipyard where the free trade union was born 10 years ago.

Spokeswoman Malgorzata Niezabitowska said the government has begun preparations to turn the state-owned Lenin Shipyard--Poland’s biggest--into a joint-stock company and shares will be offered to its 10,000 employees and foreign investors. It will be renamed the Gdansk Shipyard.

Niezabitowska indicated that Polish-born U.S. millionaire heiress Barbara Piasecka-Johnson, who offered in 1988 to save the shipyard by injecting up to $100 million, might still be involved in the rescue operation.

The spokeswoman said that, while the decision to keep the shipyard open was symbolically satisfying, “This decision is economically motivated because one should not close shipyards when there is a big world demand for ships.”