Wapping Dispute - Background

Background

For years Fleet Street had been living with poor industrial relations – the so-called "Spanish practices" had put limits on the owners that they considered intolerable. On the other hand, the company management team led by Bill O'Neill, was seeking to have the union accept terms that they considered unacceptable: flexible working, a no-strike clause, the adoption of new technology and the end of the closed shop.

Despite the widespread use of the offset litho printing process elsewhere, the Murdoch papers in common with the rest of Fleet Street continued to be produced by the hot-metal and labour-intensive Linotype method, rather than being composed electronically. Eddie Shah's Messenger group, in a long-running and bitter dispute at Warrington had benefited from the Thatcher government's trade union legislation to allow employers to de-recognise unions, enabling the company to use an alternative workforce and new technology in newspaper production.

Journalists could input copy directly, reducing the need for labour in the print halls, cutting costs and improving production time dramatically. Although individual journalists (many of whom were members of the National Union of Journalists) worked behind the wire, the NUJ opposed the move to Wapping and urged their members not to go without proper negotiations. Many members refused to go and became known during the dispute as "refuseniks". The NUJ was represented alongside the Print unions in the negotiations with News International which eventually led to a monetary settlement.