Murdoch, Thatcher target Fleet St. printers' unions

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LONDON-Scarcely a year after the British miners suffered a serious defeat, printers in this country are reeling under an assault that has taken the jobs of 5500 workers and threatens thousands more. Two of Britain's most powerful unions have been rendered virtually powerless before the attack.

The embattled printers produce four of England's national newspapers: The Times, The Sunday Times, The News of the World, and The Sun. Like so much of British industry, these papers have been taken over by an American.

Rupert Murdoch, an Australian who acquired a number of U.S. papers and became an American citizen, has moved on to new conquests on Fleet St., the center of London's newspaper business.

From his experience in the United States, Murdoch learned how to use new technology to devastate jobs and working conditions. Murdoch also learned in the United States that the printing unions-led by timid, conservative leaders and hobbled by repressive labor laws-can be shoved aside when they stand in his way.

Similar conditions in Britain make Murdoch confident he can ride roughshod over the London printers. He is not content to break their resistance to new technology. He intends to eliminate the traditional printers' unions altogether.

Assaulting the Fleet St. unions is a heavy challenge to any employer. For years, the National Graphical Association (NGA) and the Society of Graphical and Allied Trades (SOGAT) stood like the Maginot Line, resisting technological monopoly of labor would a lifetime.

Murdoch did not attempt a frontal assault on the powerful unions on Fleet St. Instead, he attacked from the rear. He built a huge $150 million printing plant in the London District of Wapping, a short walk from the Tower of London.

Like the Tower, Murdoch's Wapping plant was built to withstand a siege. The latest security devices maintain electric surveillance inside and outside the plant. Coils of razor-sharp barbed wire are strewn about the ground to repel any assault by the enemy—organized labor.

Murdoch made it plain he would not run his plant under Fleet St. union rules. He stood adamant on three conditions: First, he demanded a no-strike pledge; second, the right to assign any worker to any task; third, an open shop—no union control over hiring or firing.

Accepting these terms would cut the heart out of the unions. Murdoch, however, does not want even a weakened NGA or SOGAT. He wants a brand new work force.

Another union, the Electrical, Electronic, Telecommunication, and Plumbing Union (EETPU), is supplying Murdoch with his new labor force. They are actually recruiting scabs to replace fellow unionists. Eric Hammond, the leader of EETPU, is willing to sign a single union no-strike contract. He calls this policy "new realism."

Under much as change, confident that their ensure their members jobs for English law, laid-off workers are entitled to as several thousand pounds redundancy pay. This Stefano Cagnoni, IFL Stefanc could cost Murdoch an estimated 40 million pounds. But Murdoch has a way out. If workers go on strike, they lose all redundancy (severance) pay. They are said to have "broken their contract," and lose all rights to their jobs.

Unions forced to strike Murdoch goaded SOGAT and NGA into an impasse, and they struck his Fleet St. plants. Murdoch then transferred production to his new plant and laid off 5500 workers with nothing more than their last paycheck. Their prospects of getting another printing job is almost nil.

Almost all of the journalists-except for about 20 honorable holdouts—have abandoned their brother and sister printers and disappeared behind the barbed wire at Wapping. Murdoch told his Fleet St. writers, members of the National Union of Journalists (NUJ), to move to Wapping or suffer the fate of NGA and SOGAT. Along with this stick, he dangled a carrot of a 2000 pounds per year raise.

Meanwhile, other Fleet St. publishers are watching Murdoch closely, preparing to make a leap into the new technology. The Times Mirror laid off 2100 workers last year. Others are preparing new plants and deserting Fleet St.

The unions say they do not oppose new technology. They want to ensure that it is introduced in such a way that its social benefits help the worker and society in general. Condemning thousands to permanent unemployment is not the way.

Government shackles unions

The most powerful enemy the printers face is the British government. Since coming to power in 1979, the Tories have been creating legal shackles that render strikers almost powerless.

Murdoch is using Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's anti-union arsenal in creative ways. By breaking his enterprise into several separate companies, he has made union action against them an illegal "secondary boycott." SOGAT and NGA were each fined 25,000 pounds for daring to ask workers not to distribute the scab papers.

Hemmed in by these legal barricades, the printers need the whole-hearted support of the entire British working class. Instead, they are being stabbed in the back by the EETPU. The central Trade Union Council (TUC) has the power to expel the EETPU for scabbing. But the TUC fears a split in the union movement. They let EETPU off with vague promises that have no effect on the strike.

EETPU leader Hammond justifies his union's betrayal by claiming new conciliatory tactics are needed to confront new technology. Actually, he represents a mood of pessimism following the miners' defeat and the erosion of Britain's industrial base in the face of foreign competition.

A growing army of three-and-a-half-million unemployed hangs like a cloud over the industrial scene. Thatcher says they should start their own businesses. The TUC has no better advice to offer.

Nevertheless, several mass pickets of 3000 to 5000 workers demonstrate that widespread sympathy exists for the printers. On one occasion, 400 Kent miners came to help. There have been sharp clashes with police as pickets try to stop the delivery trucks. The police have been undergoing special riot-duty training in the use of plastic bullets, armored cars, and other riot-control gear.

While mass pickets will keep Murdoch's perfidy in the headlines, the battle zone must be enlarged to encompass the government's entire drive against labor. If the TUC treats this as "just another strike," defeat is certain. Labor must deploy forces on the trade-union and political field that can match the resources commanded by the British ruling class.

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