ANNUS
MIRABILIS
The press: Paul Johnson on the amazing decline of union power
THIS has been the most remarkable year for Fleet Street in decades, and 1986 promises to be even more revolutionary. The industrial scene in poor old Britain is in the process of a general transformation. The series of documentaries Channel 4 has been showing on the political history of the 1970s has been very instructive in this respect. I do not know what the intention of this series was, but in the event it turned out to be a first-class piece of propaganda for Margaret Thatcher. How she has changed attitudes since those dreadful days — which already seem far distant — when bullying trade union bosses strolled in and out of Number Ten at their contemptuous ease, when their mobs sent the police scurrying for cover, when Prime Ministers trembled in their presence and Chancellors of the Exchequer cringed before foreign bankers in order to keep the pound afloat. It is — is it not? — a different world now, and a far, far better one.
The unions are being put, slowly but surely, in their proper place, and it must be giving enormous pleasure to millions of decent people to see, for instance, Arthur Scargill being dramatically cut down to size by his own members. But until recently time had seemed to stand still in Fleet Street, with the clock stopped firmly in the Sickly Seventies and the unions still on top. In fact it is only a few months since I reproached Mrs Thatcher on this score: You have done nothing for Fleet Street. I am putting my trust solely in Eddie Shah.' Ooh,' she said fervently, 'so am I, so am Ir But, on reflection, this was unjust to her, for it was by skilfully taking advantage of the new government legislation that Shah beat the NGA up north in the first place; and it was his reputation for being willing to sue the unions for any unlawful action, whatever the cost, which has made it possible for his new national daily to get off the ground, and obtain the necessary financial and journalistic backing. Finally, it is the Shah phenomenon which has set in motion the first seismic shift in the Fleet Street ice and threatens to precipitate a monumental avalanche. For the first time I can remember, the Fleet Street union bosses are no longer the absolute cocks of the dunghill. They are not yet crushed but they don't look unbeat- able any more. Of course Shah is not the only factor. Bob Maxwell has also played his part. At the time I write, the outcome of his battle with Sogat '82 is unclear: but 1,000 of the 2,000 redundancies he deman- ded have already been secured, and the rest will follow one way or another. By his relentless war of attrition, he has got the union leaders shell-shocked: they do not know quite what will happen next nor what they ought to do, and their members have lost faith in union invincibility. Many of the older men want to take any money on offer and quit — afraid that there may soon be none at all. So the psychology of Fleet Street is changing quite rapidly.
It is true that unions can still do a lot of damage. Earlier this month the Guardian lost an entire issue because 18 copy-boys went on strike. All they do is carry copy from editorial to production, and anyone can perform their role if need be. The issue was lost because the Guardian manage- ment has not yet become attuned to the new mood. But I am willing to bet that in a year from now this kind of stoppage will be rare, if not a thing of the past. If it does still occur, it will be entirely the fault of weak and out-of-date management. For there is yet another factor working for Christopher Fildes will resume his column in the next issue.
`It carries all the Christmas television strike- change: the modern-minded realism of the EETPU, the electricians' union. They have not only accepted that the technological revolution in printing is inevitable; they are also determined to take full advantage of it for their members. They have shown, in other industries, that they are quite willing to sign no-strike agreements on the right terms. Their terms, especially over con- sultation procedures, can be pretty tough — so much so that Lord Weinstock of GEC, for instance, doesn't think the no- strike provision is worth it. But of course it is a different matter for Fleet Street, where strikes are almost uniquely damaging.
The EETPU, being an intelligent, strong and self-confident union, is also prepared to work within a non-closed-shop framework, certain that it can recruit its members by rational persuasion and does not need compulsion. Hence it has been prepared to sign a no-strike agreement with Shah which also permits him to employ non-union labour; and it is perfect- ly clear that provided he has the electri- cians on his side, he can go ahead whatever the other unions do. Of course this applies, at any rate in theory, to the entire printing industry. Rupert Murdoch now wants a similar agreement for the London Post, the new evening daily he plans to launch in March. He argues that, for the paper to be viable at all, he must eliminate both strikes and the closed shop. The main printing unions, with the backing of the TUC, have rejected such a deal on principle. But last week the EETPU refused to go along with them. They said that, with the proper deal, strikes would be unnecessary, and that the issue of a closed shop should be left to a secret ballot.
It is too early to say what will happen. Without such a deal, Murdoch will not produce the Post. But if he gets one — or if he negotiates a one-union deal, like Shah, with the EETPU — then clearly the London Standard will have to get some- thing similar, or it is heading straight for extinction. Equally clearly, Murdoch will then press forward for equivalent no-strike agreements for the Sun and the News of the World, in preparation for the move to the Isle of Dogs. Indeed, he will eventually need to cut their production costs radically if Maxwell carries on his shake-out of unionised labour. At the moment the Sun and News of the World are well ahead of their Mirror Group rivals. But when the production cuts Maxwell is demanding and appears to be getting begin to affect the figures, Murdoch will have to move rapidly in the same direction. So one good deal leads to another, and when one Fleet Street domino falls, the rest tremble.
The unions are now everywhere on the defensive, and the prospect for 1986 is that they could soon be on the run. Conrad Black is a lucky fellow: he is joining the ranks of the Fleet Street proprietors just at the moment when managements have the chance, provided they have the courage, to get back into control, at a time of unpre- cedented technical opportunities.
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