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Introduction: Tales from the Workplace
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 04 August 2010
Summary
On a grey and overcast Saturday in late January 1995 a crowd of some 500 people assembled at Tower Hill underground station near the River Thames in London. The people in the crowd milled about, talking, greeting friends, reading pamphlets and trying to keep warm, while some distributed and held banners representing labour organisations including the Graphical, Paper and Media Union (GPMU), and the National Union of Journalists (NUJ), while others represented political parties. Suddenly, those with banners were called to the front by yellow and orange bibbed marshals, announcements were shouted, and people began to march. The march proceeded along the street with police – some on horseback – ensuring that no one spilled over onto the median strip. After an initial period of quiet, chants filled the air. People shouted and responded ‘Rupert Murdoch, hear us shout! You can't keep the unions out!’, ‘What do we want? Union rights! When do we want them? Now!’, ‘Major! Major! Major! Out! Out! Out!’. The march wound along the streets of London until the destination was in sight – the buildings of the media organisation News International at Wapping in the Docklands area of London. As the people passed these buildings the chants grew louder, and the passion and anger of those involved in the march was evident. Numerous police and security guards protected the entrance to the Wapping site to ward off any attempts to enter the heavily fenced premises. The people marched past the building, staring at it and at the people inside, and headed towards a small park across the street from the buildings owned by News International.
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- News Corporation, Technology and the WorkplaceGlobal Strategies, Local Change, pp. 1 - 4Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2000