Print reaction to Mrs Thatcher's death: Legacy of Thatcher has pros and cons for print industry

摘要

Margaret Thatcher's death has rekindled memories of her dramatic impact on the printing industry in the 1980s and the subsequent legacy of her policies. She famously broke the stranglehold of Slade, the NGA, Sogat, and Natsopa, the hugely powerful trade unions of the era. Unite assistant general secretary Tony Burke described the NGA's dispute with Eddy Shah's Stockport Messenger group in Warrington in 1983 as a "dry run" for what was to follow at News International's Wapping print plant, and with the mine workers. "She saw the opportunity to unleash the full force of the law against working people. In doing so with the miners and printers, who were both brilliantly organised, she set about destroying both," he said.