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.
In 1939, the federation agreed to merge with the Lithographers' International and the International Federation of Bookbinders and Kindred Trades. 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.
Affiliates As of 1910, the following unions were affiliated to the federation:
Union Country Membership 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 1896: Friedrich Siebenmann 1902: Pierre Stautner 1921: Fritz Verdan 1926: Hans Grundbacher 1947: Gottfried Reinhard (acting)
References