Chartered in 1907, typographical
union Local celebrates 100 years
Windsor
Typographical Union | CWA
Canada Local 30553
Members of the Windsor Typographical
Union gathered for a centenary celebration on Saturday — 100
years to the day since the Local of the International
Typographical Union (ITU) was chartered.
"They threw a hell of a party," says
David Esposti, the CWA Canada staff representative
invited to attend and speak at the event. The dinner
and dance was organized by Randy Morgan, a former president
of the Local.
Esposti — also a longtime ITU member — told
the gathering that "it takes more than longevity
to make a Local special." For instance, he said,
members of the Local made history in 1970 when its
striking members occupied the Windsor Star offices
for 15 days.
"No one had ever done that and no one has done
it since," noted Esposti.
The newspaper itself notes
ruefully on its website that it was the first strike
in the paper's history. The compositors' "sit-in" — during
which family and friends passed food and other essentials
to the workers who would lower buckets down to the
street — prevented the Star from publishing from
Dec. 2 to 17.
Esposti told the crowd that, when he was invited to
the 100th anniversary celebration, he was astonished
that the Local was that old. But then he learned there
are other ITU Locals in Canada that are older.
Among those in the CWA Canada family, Saint John's
is 126, having been chartered in 1881. Other ITU Locals
that have passed the century mark include Saskatchewan
(101), Fredericton (102), Peterborough (105), St. Catherines
(106), Brantford, Stratford and Guelph (107).
According to Michael Nolan,
author of Walter J. Blackburn, A Man for All Media, "The
printing trade had been in the vanguard of the union
movement in Canada since the 1830s. The ITU was a
powerful organization with locals in New York, Boston,
Chicago and St. Louis. Eventually the union established
locals in Canada. Local 133 of the ITU had been formed
in London (at The Free Press) on 22 November 1869
with seven members."
The ITU, which was founded in 1852 in the United States,
saw its ranks severely decimated by new technologies
in the 20th century. In 1987, it merged with the Communications
Workers of America, forming the Printing, Publishing
and Media Workers Sector. According to Wikipedia, the
online encyclopedia, the ITU as of 2006 is the oldest
surviving trade union in the United States.
Esposti explained that TNG
Canada/CWA, formed in 1995, was actually a combination
of former ITU and Newspaper Guild Locals. "It's an anomaly," he said, "the
child is older than the parent."
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