On August 14, the shipyard workers began their strike, organized by the Free Trade Unions of the Coast ("Wolne Związki Zawodowe Wybrzeża"). The workers were led by electrician Lech Wałęsa, a former shipyard worker who had been dismissed in 1976, and who arrived at the shipyard late in the morning of August 14. The strike committee demanded the rehiring of Walentynowicz and Wałęsa, as well as the according of respect to workers' rights and other social concerns. In addition, they called for the raising of a monument to the shipyard workers who had been killed in 1970 and for the legalization of independent trade unions. The workers may have timed the strike to coincide with the nearby Intervision Song Contest, which many international journalists attended.