Industry has changed massively since the '90s

First we should be clear that the former GPMU worked very closely with the NUJ to reorganise the industry once the right to win union recognition was established in 1999.

At the same time front-end jobs such as typesetting and repro had disappeared through technological change.

Nonetheless, the former GPMU was able to win back recognition at many titles through sheer hard work and organising, as well as using the arbitration process.

Space precludes me listing our success stories - the late Professor John Gennard's history of the former GPMU is a good place to start.

The seismic change in newspapers recently has been the closure of local print plants and the growth of large regional sites.

The majority of these sites are well-organised with good and effective chapels - they now produce round the clock and it is a different industry altogether than it was 25 years ago.

Many of Unite's members now producing newspapers were not working in the '80s and '90s but they are aware of the battles at Wolverhampton, Warrington and Wapping.

Our comrades in the NUJ are fighting for decent journalism in many regional and local titles to resist them becoming "cut and paste" rehashes - and we fully support them.

The phone hacking scandal and the Wapping 25th anniversary exhibition have reignited the debate on media barons, cross-media ownership, honest reporting and the Employment Rights Act - all issues that Unite and the NUJ are working together on.

As always we are more than happy to correct misconceptions and detail the history of the newspaper industry post-Wapping to anyone who cares to listen.

Tony Burke
Unite Assistant General Secretary