The Marx Memorial Library & Workers’ School is holding a day-long seminar marking forty years since the Wapping dispute.

The seminar will take place on Saturday 24 January and it will be possible to attend either online or onsite. This event will commemorate the year-long struggle of workers for their jobs and trade union rights and reflect on its legacy.

The Wapping dispute began when Rupert Murdoch’s News International moved production overnight to a fortified plant in East London, demanding worsened terms and dismissing more than 5,500 printworkers. The conflict unfolded amid a wider government offensive against strong trade unions and remains a defining moment in the transformation of Britain’s media landscape.

The Marx Memorial Library is home to the Printworkers’ Collection, a major archive documenting organising and activism in the printing and publishing industries. Its most significant body of material covers the News International (Wapping) dispute of 1986–87.

The full programme for the day is set out below with booking details.

REGISTER HERE [marx-memorial-library.org.uk]

09:45 
Doors open 
Tea and coffee available

10:15 
Welcome and introduction 

• Meirian Jump, Marx Memorial Library & Workers’ School

10:30 – 12:15 
The Wapping Dispute: An Introduction 

• Chair: Ann Field, Marx Memorial Library 
• Striking and sacked workers: 
• Paul King (NGA)
• John Lang (SOGAT)
• Greg Neale (NUJ)

12:15 – 12:45 
Remembering the dispute in our archives 

• Matt Dunne, MML 
• Tamsin Bookey, Tower Hamlets Archive 
• Katy Easthill, Brunel University

12:45 – 13:30 
Lunch break 
An opportunity to pop out for refreshments and to view the exhibition and reading room display, with Matt Dunne and Wapping strikers and supporters

13:30 – 15:00 
The State, the Law and the Wapping Dispute 

• Chair: Louisa Bull, Unite the Union 
• Ruth Dukes, University of Glasgow 
• Morag Livingstone, writer and documentary filmmaker

15:00 – 16:15 
The Media: Then and Now 

• Chair: Tommy Murphy, Unite the Union 
• Ben Chacko, Morning Star 
• Granville Williams, MediaNorth 
• Mike Wayne, Brunel University

16:15 – 16:30 
Summing up and closing remarks 
Tony Burke, former Assistant General Secretary, Unite the Union

REGISTER HERE [marx-memorial-library.org.uk]