Get Local!

 

72-C

Our Local Emblem was designed by Paul Atwill in 1986 and resembles the

design of the early International Pressmen’s Union Emblem.

 
 
 

 


Standing the Test of Time

             

 

 
 

All the early emblems of the

International and

our Local feature

“The Little Washington Hand

Press”, invented in

1934, in the center.
 
 

 


 

 

 

    Its hard to imagine for children of today who print at home on their computers what used to take days of setting type to print, how important the revolution of printing was and why there was a war to control this technology.  Try to picture the early battles of Pressmen and Compositors and Government and Shop Owners that took place over 100 years, from 1800 to 1900.

 

      The first major Union of Printers was founded in 1852, The International Typographical Union.  ITU was a Union of craftspeople, (Photoengravers, Pressmen, Stereotypers, Electrotypers, and Bookbinders). Specialization led to each group in turn to break away and form their own Unions. The pressmen were the first to break the ties to the ITU, when the Union refused to put pressmen to its name and the IPPU was formed in 1889.

 

     In the early years it was the compositor who controlled the pressroom. As the typesetter, it was his job to supervise the composing room and the pressroom. The knowledge of words did nothing to help the compositor teach the pressman how to run a steam powered fast driven press. In time, the advancement of the machinery led to more expertise in running a press and more pressmen needed to do so.   At first, the fears of unemployment as machine took over the hand-craft of the past caused headaches for the pressmen instead of backaches. It brought hostility by pressmen. The first steam press was attempted to be put on the market in 1822, by Boston Inventor Treadwell.  The fire which destroyed the horse-powered press put in Mr. Treadwell’s first shop was probably no accident. After establishing a second print shop, Mr. Treadwell’s presses were run by a water wheel.  Purchasers for his presses could now be found. The pressmen did not realize more speed meant more printing and more jobs and more money. Typesetters had worries about jobs as well because duplicate flat plates were available to cylinder presses which meant typesetters needed to do only one set of type.  The insecurity was one of the reasons these groups began to war for pressroom control.

 

The Union Leaders were caught in the middle and could do nothing to hold together groups of workers now meeting secretly and concessions were beginning to be made.  One of the first groups of Pressmen to receive a separate Local Charter was from Washington D.C., and they became Pressmen’s Union No. 1 of the ITU. For a one-year term a pressman, William D. Redfield, was elected first vice-president of the ITU in 1874.  Battles in shops turned to Union Battles. In 1889, a group of thirteen locals, including a representative of Pressmen’s Union No. 1, of Washington D.C., met on Forsyth Street in New York City, and formed the IPPU.   The IPPU became the strongest of the Printing Unions.  The International Printing Pressmen and Assistants Union of North America had 103,527 members in 1956 and grew to be the largest craft union of its time.

The Rotary Web Press which was so large it required many assistants to run was in wide use by the 1890’s. In 1897, many Assistants were demanding Union Representation and could no longer be ignored.  At the Detroit Convention of 1897 the eight year old International Printing Pressmen Union became The International Printing Pressmen and Assistants Union of North America. The emblem was redesigned to include the word Assistants and North America.

Our Local roots go back to both the first pressmen in Washington who started that first pressmen’s Local 1 of the ITU and to the very first Assistants Union Local 42.  The original charter of Local 42 when the assistants formed their own Local is dated 1897. The first Charter of the International Printing Pressmen was signed in the year 1889.  When the first Locals decided to break away from the ITU the Charter was signed by thirteen locals one of which was from Washington D.C.  On March 27th of 1950, Local 351, was given their own Charter after an intense Fight with Local 1 of the ITU, which refused to grant the commercial Pressmen proper representation.  The International was forced to intervene after 70% of the downtown pressmen voted to split from Local 1 of the ITU.

      The merger of Washington Locals 351 (letterpress apprentices and journeymen) Local 530 (offset pressmen and preparatory workers) and Local 42 (letterpress assistants) occurred in the summer of 1958. Congratulations went to Arden L. Wiesenberger president of the newly merged Washington, D.C. local union. The merged locals operated under their own charters for two years and then a new over-all charter was issued encompassing one jurisdiction.  After two years of working together these Local’s were issued a charter on the first of October, 1960 and given the number 72 and our Local 72-C was born. On January 1, 1993, Local 42-B, a local comprised of Bookbinders joined Local 72-C. Local 72-C agreed to accept the membership of Local 42-B, as an administrative transfer.

 

The Graphic Communications Union is the Product of Five…..

v    ALA –     Amalgamated Lithographer’s of America

v    IPEU –    International Photo Engravers

v    IBB –      The International Brotherhood of Bookbinders

v    IPPAU – The International Printing Pressmen and Assistants Union

v    ISEU –    International Stereotypers and Electrotypers Union

These early Unions merged together after years of autonomy.

 

 The emblems tell the story of the changes.

Text Box:  

Text Box: The first emblem of the Pressmen’s Union designed in 1889 has beams of sunlight warming the press because things were hot when the pressmen decided to form their own Union. The Latin phrase was centered above the press and translates to “Have Confidence when acting rightly”. The design centered a page of a souvenir book of the 1892 convention held in St. Louis, with pictures of the Officers of the International Union.

                        

 

 

 

 

The Rotary Web Press was a monster that required many assistants to run and it was in wide use by the 1890’s.  In 1897, the many Assistants were demanding Union Representation and could no longer be ignored.  At the Detroit convention, of 1897, the eight year old International Printing Pressmen Union became The International Printing Pressmen and Assistants Union of North America.  The emblem was redesigned to include the word Assistants and North America
 

The procession followed as bookbinding

shifted to a machine craft. 

The International Brotherhood of

Bookbinders, IBB was formed in 1892. 

 

 

 

Stereotypers and Electrotypers demanded

 a separate organization and the ISEU formed

 in 1901.

 

 

 

Photoengravers were next, the last group to break away from the ITU, and the International

Photoengravers Union was formed in 1904.

 

 

 

 
 

 

In 1926 the emblem changed to a familiar

 appearance for the members of our Local.

 The spaces once filled with rays of sunshine

 now hold filigree and the Hand Press

 is in a arc-cornered square to show

 the strength and stability of the Union.

 This emblem was used for forty-seven years

 until the letterpress was no longer in wide use.

 

Changes included the move of the headquarters

of the International from the Pressmen’s Home

in Tennessee to Washington D.C. in 1960.

Technological Improvements of printing caused

the shrinkage of membership and the mergers of the

specialty craft Unions over the next 40 years

reflects this.  We are still in the era of mergers

to maintain our economic survival.

 
 

 

In 1973, the merger of the International Stereotypers and Electrotypers Union (ISEU) and the IPPAU formed the

International Printing and Graphic Communications Union and the emblem were adjusted to show the new Union.

 

In 1983, the International Printing and Graphic Communications Union and the Graphic Arts International Union merged to form the Graphic Communications International Union which is our Local’s International Union today. 

 

 

Local 72-C is interested in preserving the history of our members so that future generations of printers will understand the hard work and commitment that went into today’s technology.  We invite you to visit the letterpress era museum we are creating in our Union Office and welcome donations of historic value for our collection.  Janice Bort.

 

American Pressman, The  Vol. 69 (July, 1959) Published at Pressmen’s Home, Tennessee.

 

American Pressman, The. Vol. 68 (October, 1958) Published at Pressmen’s Home, Tennessee.

 

Baker, Elizabeth Faulkner. Printers and Technology. New York, Columbia University Press, 1957.

 

Printing. Microsoft. Encarta. Encyclopedia 2003. 1993-2002 Microsoft Corporation

 

The G.C.I.U. Story, Copyright ©1997-2003, Graphic Communications International Union, 1900 L St., N.W., Washington, D.C. 20036.

 

Lithographic Technical Foundation, Inc. Lithographic Offset Press Operating, Pittsburgh, Pa., Graphic Arts Technical Foundation, Inc., 1956. Chapter One.

 

Atwill, Paul. Personal Interview. May-June, 2003.

 

Zachem, Susan. Personal Interview. June 26, 2003.