Remembering the historic Wapping dispute Veterans of the historic Wapping fight against Rupert Murdoch's attempt to destroy trade unions in the newspaper industry will be attending a meeting in Fleet Street next Tuesday (January 25) to mark the 25th anniversary of the News International dispute. A number of leading trade union speakers will address the meeting on Tuesday January 25 (7.00 to 9.00 pm) at St Bride’s Institute, Bride Lane, Fleet Street, London EC4Y 8EQ. The event is hosted by the NUJ and the Campaign for Press and Broadcasting Freedom, and supported by Unite/GPM. On January 24, 1986, Rupert Murdoch’s News International group moved production of its four national newspapers to Wapping in London’s Docklands. Over 5,000 production and clerical workers were sacked overnight. The journalists were not sacked, but more than 100 – the ‘refuseniks’ – took a stand on principle and walked out of their jobs. Speakers: Chair - Tim Gopsill (CPBF and NUJ ); Unite assistant general secretary Tony Burke ; Jeremy Corbyn MP; NUJ general secretary Jeremy Dear ; Southern and Eastern TUC secretary Megan Dobney ; Wapping NUJ refusenik Pat Healy; former News International SOGAT rep John Lang ; and Granville Wlliams of the CPBF. Later this year a multimedia exhibition organised by the NUJ and Unite's GPM sector will offer dramatic images and accounts of the historic dispute. It will open on Mayday at the Marx Memorial Library, Clerkenwell Green, London EC1R 0DU. |