Latest editorial
Journalists serving Lancashire downed pen and paper to join picket lines yesterday against plans to move their jobs hundreds of miles away to south Wales.
Members of the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) staged a 24-hour walkout over plans at the Newsquest subsidiary of multinational Gannett to transfer editing and page design jobs to Newport.
The move is part of the company’s onslaught on community newspapers that also sparked a strike yesterday in south London where offices have already been shut.
![[Pic: Andrew Wiard]](https://morningstaronline.co.uk/sites/default/files/styles/desktop/public/2026-01/19860406_a_wiard_0001.jpg.webp?itok=d2RMNwWw)
LAURA DAVISON traces how Murdoch’s mass sackings, political deals and legal loopholes shattered collective bargaining 40 years ago – and how persistent NUJ organising, landmark court victories and new employment rights legislation are finally challenging that legacy
![[Pic: Andrew Wiard]](https://morningstaronline.co.uk/sites/default/files/styles/desktop/public/2026-01/19860503_a_wiard_0002.jpg.webp?itok=w0tEojMk)
A handful of journalists at The Times faced a stark personal and political choice in 1986 – cross the picket lines for cash and career, or stand with organised labour at great personal risk. BARRIE CLEMENT recalls why refusing to scab at Wapping was not just an act of union loyalty, but a stand for the future of journalism
