User:Chrisplume/Daily Mail - Machine Room Trainee Scheme

The Daily Mail - Machine Room Trainee Scheme was launched in 1983 by Associated Newspapers, owners of the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday. It was launched in association with the SOGAT 82 Trade union formerly NATSOPA. Under this scheme the newspaper employed 17 trainees, to work at its Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday operation based at Northcliffe House and Carmelite House in Fleet Street.

Overview
The scheme was notable due to the fact that trainees had never previously been recruited directly in to the press rooms of Fleet Street. The UK national newspaper industry was as the time centred around Fleet Street in the City of London and was highly unionised. Prior to the inception of the scheme the practice had been to take experienced personnel from the pool of labour provided by the Trades Unions. The scheme was instigated by senior officers of the Daily Mail Sogat '82 Machine Chapel, notably John Bird, the FOC (father of the chapel) at the time, Davy Jones the Deputy FOC, and Barry Woodgate. Senior management at Associated Newspapers welcomed the scheme as it was good PR for the company at a time when levels of unemployment were high.

Scope of training
The scheme ran for 5 years, during which time the trainees learned all of the skills that were necessary to run the huge presses which occupied three floors of the building in which they were situated. The trainees acquired general printing skills and were engaged on the production of the titles for distribution to the general public.Union demarcation was very much the order of the day, and the chapel in which the trainees worked was restricted to semi-skilled 'printers assistant' duties. The union responsible for these types of employees was Sogat '82. The presses were overseen by a skilled 'machine minder' who would be a member of the NGA Trade Union.

As part of their training, the operatives were required to attend day release at the London College of Print at the Elephant and Castle, London. This is now the London College of Communication, the largest constituent College of the University of the Arts London. Here the trainees worked toward a City & Guilds qualification. Later training in touch typing was provided at the College's Clerkenwell site at Back Hill.

Many of the trainees participated in picket duty and supported fellow print workers at the Wapping dispute in 1986. As mentioned earlier, the national newspaper industry based in London was a highly unionied 'closed shop', and it was not uncommon for members of the same family to be employed by various national newspaper titles.

End of the scheme
The intention when the scheme was launched, was that the 17 trainees would remain with the company once the training was completed. However, during that five year period the UK saw hugh industrial unrest, and Margaret Thatcher's attempts to undermine the power held by the Trades Unions. The period saw Eddie Shah launch the first non-union national newspaper, 'Today', the miners dispute, and eventually the sacking of 6,000 print workers by Rupert Murdoch. The national newspapers argued that they needed to relocate from Fleet Street to London's docklands, which were being rejuvenated. Associated Newspapers decided to relocate the production of the Daily Mail and the Mail On Sunday to Surrey Quays. This involved redundancies and the 16 remaining trainees were made redundant between 1989 and 1990.