International Typographers' Secretariat

International Typographers' Secretariat
Internationales Buchdrucker-Sekretariat
Merged intoInternational Graphical Federation
Founded25 August 1892
Dissolved13 May 1949
HeadquartersLångasstrasse 36, Bern
Members137,447 (1912)
Publication
Communications
AffiliationsIFTU

The International Typographers' Secretariat (ITS) was a global union federation bringing together unions of printers around the world.

History

An International Typographical Congress was held in Paris in July 1889, and this led to a determination to form a permanent organisation. This was established in Bern in 1892, as the International Printers' Secretariat. It held further congresses in Geneva in 1896, Lucerne in 1901, Paris in 1907, and Stuttgart in 1912.[1]

In 1939, the federation agreed to merge with the Lithographers' International and the International Federation of Bookbinders and Kindred Trades.[2] However, due to World War II, no progress was made until 1946, when the British Printing and Kindred Trades Federation established a committee which drafted a constitution for a merged organisation. This was established in 1949, as the International Graphical Federation.[3]

Affiliates

As of 1910, the following unions were affiliated to the federation:

Union Country Membership[4]
Austrian Association of Printers' Unions Austria 14,856
Belgian Book Printers' Union Belgium 3,245
Bulgarian Typographical Union Bulgaria 300
Danish Typographical Union Denmark 3,470
French Typographic Federation France 11,453
Finnish Typographical Union Finland 1,626
Hungarian Printers' Mutual Benefit Association Hungary 6,575
Italian Printers' Union Italy 12,216
Luxembourg Printers' Union Luxembourg 126
Norwegian Central Union of Book Printers Norway 1,882
Romanian Gutenberg Printers' Union Romania 424
Swedish Typographers' Union Sweden 5,949
Swiss Typographers' Union Switzerland 3,139
Typographical Society of Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia-Herzegovina 166
Typographical Society of Serbia Serbia 227
Typographical Union of Romantic Switzerland Switzerland 817
Union of German Book Printers Germany 59,027

General Secretaries

1893: Gottfried Reimann[5]
1896: Friedrich Siebenmann[5]
1902: Pierre Stautner[5]
1921: Fritz Verdan[5]
1926: Hans Grundbacher[5]
1947: Gottfried Reinhard (acting)

References

  1. ^ Musson, A. E. (1954). The Typographical Association. London: Oxford University Press. pp. 267–269.
  2. ^ "International Graphical Federation (IGF)". Open Yearbook. UIA. Retrieved 9 May 2018.
  3. ^ Bain, Peter; Gennard, John (2005). A History of the Society of Graphical and Allied Trades. Routledge. pp. 269–270. ISBN 1134790902.
  4. ^ "The International Printing Trades Bureau". The Inland Printer. 1911. Retrieved 13 February 2020.
  5. ^ a b c d e Sassenbach, Johannes (1926). Twenty-five years of international trade unionism. Amsterdam: International Federation of Trade Unions. p. 115.