International Printing Pressmen and Assistants' Union of North America

The International Printing Pressmen and Assistants' Union of North America (IPPU) was a labor union representing printing workers in the United States and Canada.

International Printing Pressmen and Assistants' Union of North America
AbbreviationIPPU
PredecessorInternational Typographical Union
Merged intoInternational Printing and Graphic Communications Union
Formation1889 (1889)
Dissolved1973 (1973)
TypeTrade union
Headquarters
Location
    • Canada
    • United States
AffiliationsAFL–CIO
Formerly called
International Printing Pressmen's Union of North America

The union was founded on 8 October 1889, as the International Printing Pressmen's Union of North America, a split from the International Typographical Union (ITU). By 1894, it had grown sufficiently that the ITU agreed to give the new union jurisdiction over pressroom workers, and to transfer its remaining members in the field. On 3 November 1895, the union was chartered by the American Federation of Labor. The union began accepting press feeders into membership, and in 1897, it adopted its final name.[1]

In 1911, the union constructed its headquarters at Pressmen's Home, Tennessee, the site selected to also house a union-owned sanatorium and trade school. The trade school taught letterpress, but mostly focused on retraining workers in offset printing.[2]

By 1926, the union had 45,000 members.[1] It affiliated to the AFL–CIO from 1955, and by 1957, its membership had grown to 104,000.[3] At its peak, the union was the largest printers' union in the world.[2]

The union closed its sanatorium in 1961, and closed its school in 1966, when it moved its headquarters to Washington, DC.[2] In 1973, the union merged with the International Stereotypers' and Electrotypers' Union, to form the International Printing and Graphic Communications Union.[4]

Presidents

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1889: Thomas F. Mahoney[5]
1890: C. W. Miller[5]
1892: Theo F. Galoskowsky[5]
1897: Jesse Johnson[5]
1898: James H. Bowman[5]
1901: Martin P. Higgins[5]
1907: George L. Berry[5]
1948: Julius de la Rosa[5]
1952: Thomas Dunwoody[5]
1959: Anthony DeAndrade
1970: Alexander Rohan

References

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  1. ^ a b Handbook of American Trade Unions (PDF). Washington, DC: United States Department of Labor. 1926. Retrieved 24 April 2022.
  2. ^ a b c "International Printing Pressmen and Assistants' Union of North America records". Archivespace. Georgia State University.
  3. ^ Directory of National and International Labor Unions in the United States (PDF). Washington, DC: United States Department of Labor. 1957. Retrieved 18 April 2022.
  4. ^ "Inactive Organizations" (PDF). UMD Labor Collections. University of Maryland. Retrieved 18 April 2022.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Baker, Elizabeth Faulkener (1957). Printers and Technology. Columbia University Press.