International Typographers' Secretariat

{{Short description|Former global union federation (1892–1949)}}

{{Infobox organization

| name = International Typographers' Secretariat

| native_name = Internationales Buchdrucker-Sekretariat

| native_name_lang= German

| image = File:International_Typographers'_Secretariat_logo.png

| founded = 25 August 1892

| dissolved = 13 May 1949

| merged = International Graphical Federation

| members = 137,447 (1912)

| publication = Communications

| affiliation = IFTU

| key_people =

| headquarters = Långasstrasse 36, Bern

| footnotes =

}}

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.{{cite book |last1=Musson |first1=A. E. |title=The Typographical Association |url=https://archive.org/details/typographicalass0000muss |url-access=registration |date=1954 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=London |pages=[https://archive.org/details/typographicalass0000muss/page/267 267]–269}}

In 1939, the federation agreed to merge with the Lithographers' International and the International Federation of Bookbinders and Kindred Trades.{{cite web|title=International Graphical Federation (IGF)|url=https://uia.org/s/or/en/1100033416|website=Open Yearbook|publisher=UIA|accessdate=9 May 2018}} 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.{{cite book|last1=Bain|first1=Peter|last2=Gennard|first2=John|title=A History of the Society of Graphical and Allied Trades|date=2005|publisher=Routledge|isbn=1134790902|pages=269–270}}

Affiliates

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

class="wikitable sortable"

! Union !! Country !! Membership{{cite journal |title=The International Printing Trades Bureau |journal=The Inland Printer |date=1911 |url=https://archive.org/stream/inlandprinter471911chic/inlandprinter471911chic_djvu.txt |accessdate=13 February 2020}}

Austrian Association of Printers' UnionsAustria14,856
Belgian Book Printers' UnionBelgium3,245
Bulgarian Typographical UnionBulgaria300
Danish Typographical UnionDenmark3,470
French Typographic FederationFrance11,453
Finnish Typographical UnionFinland1,626
Hungarian Printers' Mutual Benefit AssociationHungary6,575
Italian Printers' UnionItaly12,216
Luxembourg Printers' UnionLuxembourg126
Norwegian Central Union of Book PrintersNorway1,882
Romanian Gutenberg Printers' UnionRomania424
Swedish Typographers' UnionSweden5,949
Swiss Typographers' UnionSwitzerland3,139
Typographical Society of Bosnia and HerzegovinaBosnia-Herzegovina166
Typographical Society of SerbiaSerbia227
Typographical Union of Romantic SwitzerlandSwitzerland817
Union of German Book PrintersGermany59,027

General Secretaries

:1893: Gottfried Reimann{{cite book |last1=Sassenbach |first1=Johannes |title=Twenty-five years of international trade unionism |date=1926 |publisher=International Federation of Trade Unions |location=Amsterdam |page=115}}

:1896: Friedrich Siebenmann

:1902: Pierre Stautner

:1921: Fritz Verdan

:1926: Hans Grundbacher

:1947: Gottfried Reinhard (acting)

References