“A few months ago, I was giving a presentation to a photographic society near Glasgow, during which I talked about Progressive Street and the work that we do, in particular how we provide a platform for storytelling though photography. I was approached by an audience member who explained that he had been involved in the News International dispute back in the 80’s and had photographs from the events, would we like to do a story? Recognising the historical importance of this dispute the answer was most definitely yes! Here are Alan’s words and pictures. “ Cameron Scott
The years between 1984 and 1987 saw a period of seismic industrial turmoil in the mining and national newspaper industries, characterised by colliery closures, the imposition of detrimental working practices, terms and conditions, and a systematic process of de-unionisation and de-recognition that spread beyond these two traditional industries.
The accompanying photographs document a number of aspects of the 1986 News International dispute, including rallies, demonstrations, police violence and even humour.
In January 1986, News International Group owned by Rupert Murdoch, sacked 5,500 workers for refusing to sign new contracts which included the unilateral termination of long-standing agreements on terms and conditions as well as the de-recognition of the unions’ role in collective bargaining and negotiation. In a bid to save thousands of jobs and to protect the basic rights of workers to organise in defence of their conditions, all of the print unions at Murdoch’s papers, SOGAT, NGA, AUEW and NUJ, went on strike
The momentous year-long dispute saw the production of ‘The Sun, 'News of the World', The Times and The Sunday Times move from Fleet Street to a secretly equipped and heavily guarded plant at Wapping in East London. This move from Fleet Street was facilitated with the connivance of the electrician’s union EEPTU, that ran the presses at the Wapping plant.
The dispute went on for over a year and there were regular violent confrontations with police on the twice-weekly picket lines. The accompanying photographs give a dramatic insight into the events occurring on the picket lines at Wapping.
That the dispute was about union refusal to engage with new technology was a myth that is still widely believed today. Rather it was about the abuse of corporate power through media monopoly and a massive exercise in union de-recognition that quickly spread throughout the printing industry and beyond.
At the time of the dispute, I was employed by SOGAT as education officer. Head Office staff attended the picket lines every Wednesday and Saturday, these occasions gave me the opportunity to photograph mounted police baton charges, the ‘kettling‘ of peaceful picketers with horses and police ‘snatch squads’ in action.
Women against Murdoch
Alan Richardson