: s RS : a s FEATURE. Murdoch union busting EX Fleet Street locks out 6,000 workers By JIM STANFORD Britain’s trade union movement has found itself in the midst of a battle what many feel could prove to be as significant as the miners’ strike against pit closures in 1984-85. Six thousand print workers at the News International Company in London went on strike in early February and were promptly sacked by the firm’s own- er, Australian millionaire Rupert Mur- doch. News International publishes four of Britain’s leading newspapers: the Times, the Sunday Times, the Sun, and News of the World. At the start of the strike, Murdoch shifted production of the papers to a new plant at Wapping in suburban London — a military-like establishment featuring tight security measures and a thick barbed-wire perimeter fence. The Wap- ping plant is being run by bused-in scabs. Trade unionists fear that if Murdoch succeeds in his union-busting campaign, other employers will feel confident to fol- low suit. Under British law, it is perfectly legal for an employer to fire striking workers for breach of contract. New industrial relations legislation introduced by the Thatcher government has further strengthened Murdoch’s hand, by out- lawing all forms of secondary action ina strike. Law made for Evasion. This means that no. picket lines, strikes, boycotts, or other forms of industrial action can be legally organized by a union against any company other than the direct employer. What Murdoch has done, several months in advance of the current dis- _ pute, is to create at least six ‘satellite’ companies in the various arms of his bus- iness. Thus technically speaking, the company that prints newspapers at Wapping is separate from the firm that operated the old factory in Fleet Street, and both are separate from the firms that distribute Murdoch’s papers and supply him with paper and other supplies. In reality, though, of course, all are still owned by Murdoch. He has simply taken advantage of Thatcher’s new laws to make any action in support of the print _ workers illegal. Murdoch was well-prepared when he demanded from the print unions, NGA and SOGAT, acollective agreement that abolished the closed shop, prohibited strikes and industrial action for any reason whatsoever, contained huge wage roll-backs, and gave management total power to ‘‘classify and reclassify’’ work- ers, and to ‘‘dismiss, suspend, discipline, and lay off workers as it sees fit.”’ It is obvious that Murdoch never expected the print unions to accept the agreement. They offered major conces- sions, but were forced to strike against Murdoch's ‘yellow dog’ contract; all 6,000 were fired the same week. Unfor- tunately, Murdoch did find a union will- ing to accept his terms in the right-wing electricians’ union EETPU, which now represents the scab workers at Wapping. The EETPU has accepted no-strike no-rights agreements at other firms in Britain, but its treacherous actions in helping the strike-breaking at News International have resulted in disciplin- ary action from the trade union move- ment. The print unions, the National Union of Mineworkers, and other milit- ant trade unionists wanted the EETPU expelled from the Trades Union Con- gress (Britain’s equivalent of the CLC) unless its leaders instructed its members not to cross the illegal picket lines set up at Wapping. The TUC executive narrowly voted to back down from outright confrontation with the EETPU, however, and instead instructed the electricians’ union merely to inform its members that they were filling jobs normally held by NGA and SOGAT workers. The print workers’ campaign has also been handcuffed by the legal punish- ments handed out to SOGAT as a result of the illegal picketing at Wapping and its instructions to SOGAT-member deliv- ery truck drivers to boycott Murdoch’s papers. SOGAT’s financial assets have been seized, and its leaders face imprisonment; similar charges are also pending against the NGA. This leaves the 6,000 sacked workers without strike pay or other forms of assistance from their union. Few of the scabs currently running the Wapping plant had any experience in the print industry. New technology has de- skilled printing trades (like many other occupations) to such an extent that scabs can literally be hired off the street. Union-free Blueprint That is why Murdoch’s challenge to the unions poses such a threat to workers in all industries in Britain. Without any legal protection for the right to strike, other employers may try to follow the Murdoch path to union-free operations. Nevertheless, the campaign in solidar- ity with the print workers has so far met with only limited support from workers outside the printing industry. This is partly the result of the argument repeated by all of the mass media that the print unions represent ‘Stone Age’ trade unionism, standing in the way of prog- _Tess and efficiency in the form of new technology. The solidarity campaign has not been helped by the past image of the print unions, which effectively used their posi- tion as highly skilled workers in a sharply competitive industry to win themselves wage rates far above the industrial aver- age. Many complain that the informal closed shop system of Fleet Street has acted like an ‘old boys’ network’, and U.S. journalists recruited The International Newspaper Guild has sent a letter to Robert Murdoch protesting his recruiting of U.S. jour- nalists to scab on striking workers at his London newspapers. Six Americans are now working for Murdoch in England, each receiving $150 a day plus hotel and living ex- penses. In a strongly worded letter from its executive the Guild accused Murdoch of “‘international scabbing’’ and de- manded he cease hiring its members as Guild hits international scabbing jobs with Murdoch until the strike is strikebreakers. : The union has also sent notices out to its locals urging members not to accept settled. Murdoch fired six thousand print workers after they struck his operation in February. The Australian newspaper magnet has taken advantage of recent changes in British labor laws which allow employers to transfer work to “*satellite’’ plants to avoid picket lines and boycotts. SRR ie < =. Murdoch’s Wapping plant surrounded in barbed wire was established in compliance en é x with Thatcher's new labor laws which prevent secondary picketing. has denied access to the well-paid print- ’ ing jobs to women and non-whites. The left within the trade union move- ment, however, recognizes the danger posed to all unions by the Wapping dis- pute, and has offered its full support to a public campaign to boycott Murdoch’s papers. Mineworkers, in particular, have taken a leading role in this campaign — remembering, perhaps, the NGA’s his- toric refusal during the miners’ strike to print an edition of the Sun that slander- ously was to feature a front-page carica- ture of NUM leader Arthur Scargill look- ing like Hitler and giving a fascist salute. The print unions have also appealed for support to their brothers and sisters in Canada and Scandinavia — the sources of supply for all of Murdoch’s newsprint. Meanwhile, the battle goes on every night at Wapping. Regular picket lines have been supported by up to 5,000 sup- porters and sacked workers at any one time. Police beatings and mass arrests are a nightly occurrence at the illegal pic- kets, which have also featured numerous provocations from Britain's omnipresent Trotskyist groupings, attempting to en- gage the police in pointless ‘street bat- tles’. To date, the print unions have not tried to use this mass nightly presence at Wapping to physically stop the distribu- tion of Murdoch’s papers. In future, though, they may opt to take a page from the British peace movement's book, with its recent mass blockade of the U.S. Cruise missile base at Molesworth. Coalition hits extra-billing By MIKE PHILLIPS TORONTO — A huge coalition speak- ing for the majority of Ontarians came into being March 3 to ensure the Liberal government carries through with a legis- lated ban on doctors’ extra billing. Initiated by the National Action Com- mittee on the Status of Women and other groups, the coalition represents more than 40 labor, women’s, pensioners’, handi- capped, social service, ethnic and cultural organizations throughout the province. Organizers describe it as the largest alliance to be formed in the province’s history. The coalition was launched in a packed caucus room at the provincial legislature with representatives of each of the 40 organizations seated behind a panel of spokespersons for organizations ranging all the way from the Coalition of Seniors Organizations in Ontario, NAC, the Ontario Health Care Coalition, the Onta- rio Coalition for Abortion Clinics, Organ- ized Working Women and the United Auto Workers. Labor was heavily represented in the alliance. In addition to the auto workers, the Communications Workers of Canada, the Canadian Union of Public Employees, the Canadian Union of Postal Workers, the Ontario Public Service Employees . Union, the United Steelworkers, the Ser- vice Employees International Union, the Ontario Secondary School Teachers Fed- eration, the Canadian AirLine Flight Attendants Association, the Ontario Fed- eration of Labor and the Metro Toronto Labor Council were among the partici- Pants. The launching was timed to coincide with the opening of provincial govern- ment hearings into Bill 94, the minority Liberal government’s proposed law to ban extra billing in Ontario. If passed by the Legislature, Ontario’s 17,000 doctors would not be permitted to charge patients more than the Ontario Health Insurance Plan scale and would face fines up to $10,000 for defying the law. Under pressure from a lavisly-financed campaign by the Ontario Medical Associ- ation, the government has been slow to follow through on yet another commit- ment from its accord with the NDP oppo- sition. However, Ontario premier David Peterson did say last week that the pro- vince could change to a model resembling the Quebec plan, where doctors who opt out of the plan get no reimbursement from the government health plan. While the government has been waf- fling on the issue of the $10,000 fines, the coalition was firm in demanding the speediest passage possible with no amend- ments. “This isn’t an issue between the doctors of this province and the government,” the UAW’s Bob White said in an interview, “it’s between the people and the govern- ment.” The public health care system in this province wasn’t created for the doctors, but for the people, and it belongs to the people of Ontario, he said. Labor has fought long and hard for a public health care system from its incepetion and will fight to defend and extend it. PACIFIC TRIBUNE, MARCH 12, 1986 e 5 .