The International Federation of Lithographers, Lithographic Printers and Kindred Trades (IFL) was a global union federation bringing together unions representing print workers.
The federation was established in 1896 at a conference in London, as the International Federation of Lithographers and Kindred Trades. It was based in London until 1907, when its headquarters moved to Berlin, then in 1920 they moved to Brussels, and by the mid-1930s, they were in Amstelveen in the Netherlands. By 1925, the federation had 22 affiliates with a total of 45,562 members, and by 1935, its affiliates were from Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, Finland, France, Hungary, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Romania, Sweden, Switzerland, the UK, and Yugoslavia.
In 1939, the federation agreed to merge with the International Typographers' Secretariat 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 1921, the following unions were members of the federation:
Union Country Amalgamated Society of Lithographic Printers United Kingdom Austrian Senefelder Union Austria Central Union of Lithographic Workers and Kindred Trades Belgium Danish Lithographers' Union Denmark Dutch Litho-, Photo- and Chemographers' Union Netherlands Federation of Spanish Lithographers and Kindred Trades Spain Finnish Printers' and Bookbinders' Union Finland French Federation of Book Workers France Graphical Union Czechoslovakia International Lithographic Union of Sweden Sweden Italian Lithographic Federation Italy Norwegian Lithographers' Union Norway Society of Lithographic Artists, Designers, Engravers and Process Workers United Kingdom Swiss Lithographers' Union Switzerland Union of Lithographers and Lithographic Printers Germany
General Secretaries 1896: Charles Harrap 1900: George Davy Kelley 1907: Otto Sillier 1920: François Poels 1927: Henri Berckmans 1929: Jacob Roelofs
References