Catalogue Number
NMLH.1994.158
Object Name
Badge
Title
NO. 5999 JOBLESS 1986
Place
Wapping, London
Events
Wapping Dispute
Description
Rectangular ID-badge style badge with header "Wapping Picket" above a cartoon illustration of a man and woman. In a table to the right is "Name: Jo Jobless / Date: 1986 / Description: Trade union supporter / Union: ALL UNIONS / Signature: " and "No. 5999" at the top, a reference to the 6000 sacked.
The badge was produced in support of printworkers, who had gone on strike in response to the management of Rupert Murdoch's News International refusing to negotiate terms for the movement of the printworks of the newspapers to a new factory in Wapping with worse terms of employment, in 1986. Following the declaration of the strike, known as the Wapping dispute, striking members of staff were fired. Mass pickets and a boycott movement soon followed, but the 54-week strike was ultimately unsuccessful.
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