'The News', Portsmouth. MASS pickets Portsmouth's evening paper, The lock-out, initially. over pay and conditions national dispute between the National Graphical mom an provisa newspaper proprietors, has become an attempt. to break strongest unions in the print industry.
It is one of only six provincial attempting publish during the dispute -over the NGA's claim for an £80 minimum and a 37.5 hour week — ana lor severas days il went as far as hiring a £150-anhour helicopter to lift over the pickets in an effort to demoralise the NGA members.
Management hopes after weakening the NGA it will be able. " to bring On Its wiping out 80 to 90 NGA composing room jobs.
The company's managing director has said he looks at the Nottingham Post, print unions Pave systematically prevented from are planned to stop production The News, SLADE, and some NUJ members are locked-out.
tne . Stabilly .
Associa- wants to implement the Tories' Bill becomes law, the told the NGA that it aims to end the closed shop.
It is insisting that staff will return on an individual basis; that NGA membership is not obligatory; that no action can be taken against the handful of NGA overseers who have continued work strike; and that SLADE been locked out after refusing in to work with management on the scab paper, and journalists were threatened with the sack when a minority refused to cooperate on the paper.
Four of us were dismissed, although management later accepted that we were in dispute with the company. Two other where the NUJ members then joined us, been but management has threatened that if any more journalists while an "ideal of management and has already during the *no strike' members have sacked. refuse to co-operate they will be faces Portsmouth Trades Council presence is to organise the first mass pickets at The News, and has called for support for the PICKETS at the 'Wolverhampton Express and Star', where over 40 have been arrested regular daily picket, which a large-scale police NGA militants expect that union members at some half the dozen newspapers will remain locked-out when the national dispute is settled - all of which emphasises the need to back the struggle now and to get rid of proprietors' Tory protectors