Archives West Finding Aid

Labor organization of the printing industry began as early as 1836, with the first meeting of the National Typographical Society, later renamed the International Typographical Union (ITU) in Washington, D.C. However, it wasn’t until the late 1800s that mechanization transformed the printing industry into a full-scale trade with craft specialization. Newspaper printing and commercial printing became distinct trades. By the turn of the century several separate printing unions had emerged or seceded from the ITU, including the International Printing Pressmen Union of North America (IPPU) in 1897 and the Amalgamated Lithographers of America (ALA) in 1915. Union membership flourished in the first half of the 20th century, and the unions were able to operate alone. As union membership declined in the later half of century, a series of mergers occurred. The International Printing and Graphic Communications Union (IPGCU) resulted in 1973 from the merger of the IPPU and the International Stereotypers’ and Electroplaters’ Union (IS&EU). In 1983, the IPGCU merged with the Graphic Arts International Union (GAIU) to form the Graphic Communications International Union (GCIU). In 2005, the GCIU decided to merge with the 1.1 million member Teamster union.

The first printing union in Seattle was the International Brotherhood of Bookbinders (IBB) in 1900. Seven years later, the Seattle Web Printing Pressmen & Assistants’s Union No. 26 was formed. In 1963, Local No. 26 merged with five other Washington printers’ unions to create the Washington state Joint Crafts Council. GCIU branch 767-M was the result of the 1985 merger of PH & PPU Local 50, GCIU Local 26N and GCIU Local 530M. In 1996, GCIU Local 292-M of Portland, Oregon merged with GCIU 767-M. Additionally, between 2002 and 2003, GCIU branches in Bremerton (367-M), Olympia (182-C) and Aberdeen (262-C) merged with Local 767-M, further strengthening the Seattle branch. In 2005, 767-M merged with the Teamster Union. 767-M still exists today.