# International Graphical Federation

The International Graphical Federation (IGF) was a global union federation bringing together unions of printing workers around the world.

## History

Moved to establish the federation began in 1939, when the Lithographers' International, International Typographers' Secretariat, and International Federation of Bookbinders and Kindred Trades, agreed to merge. 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.
The federation was established at its first meeting, in Stockholm in 1949. It agreed to operate on a non-political basis, instead focusing on responses to technical developments in the industry, and sharing information on industrial disputes, employment and health and safety standards in each country.
The federation had three boards, covering typography, lithography and bookbinding, and each agreed policies which were put to the body's congress. An executive committee with fifteen members co-ordinated the federation's activities, while a bureau of the general secretary, president, and four representatives of the country in which the headquarters were located, ran the organisation between executive committee meetings.
The IGF affiliated to the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU), but its membership was suspended in 1967, as it had permitted the French Federation of Book Workers, a communist union from France, to affiliate.
At the end of 1999, the federation merged with the Communications International, the International Federation of Employees, Technicians and Managers, and the Media and Entertainment International, to form Union Network International.

## Affiliates

In 1979, the following unions were affiliated to the federation:
| Union | Country | Affiliated membership |
| Union of Printing and Paper | Austria | 24,272 |
| Paper and Publishing Industry Union | Belgium | 15,219 |
| Sindicato de Artes Graficas de Bogota | Colombia | 101 |
| Cyprus Industrial and Hotel Employees' Federation | Cyprus | 380 |
| Danish Typographical Union | Denmark | 11,387 |
| Danish Bookbinders' and Stationers' Union | Denmark | 8,951 |
| Danish Lithographers' Union | Denmark | 2,742 |
| Finnish Printers' and Bookbinders' Union | Finland | 23,454 |
| French Federation of Book Workers | France | 60,402 |
| Printing and Paper Union | West Germany | 158,180 |
| National Graphical Association | United Kingdom | 107,723 |
| Society of Graphical and Allied Trades | United Kingdom | 133,500 |
| Society of Lithographic Artists, Designers, Engravers and Process Workers | United Kingdom | 21,261 |
| National Union of Wallcoverings, Decorative and Allied Trades | United Kingdom | 3,369 |
| Printing and Allied Workers' Union | Guyana | 500 |
| Hid Islenzka Prentarafelag | Iceland | 409 |
| Grafiska Sveinafelagid | Iceland | 89 |
| Indian Federation of Graphical Workers | India | 1,314 |
| Press Mazdoor Sabha | India | 1,550 |
| Irish Graphical Society | Ireland | 1,524 |
| National Union of Printing Workers in Israel | Israel | 3,960 |
| Italian Federation of Book Workers | Italy | 28,000 |
| Printers' and Bookbinders' Union in the Lebanese Republic | Lebanon | 600 |
| Federation of Printing Workers of Luxembourg | Luxembourg | 609 |
| Mauritius Printing Workers' Union | Mauritius | 104 |
| Norwegian Graphical Union | Norway | 14,123 |
| Typographical Union of Rhodesia | Rhodesia | 1,968 |
| South African Typographical Union | South Africa | 19,928 |
| Swedish Graphic Workers' Union | Sweden | 39,472 |
| Swiss Typographers' Union | Switzerland | 15,316 |
| Swiss Bookbinders' and Carton Makers' Union | Switzerland | 3,324 |
| Swiss Lithographers' Union | Switzerland | 6,279 |
| Press Workers' Union of Turkey | Turkey | 4,497 |
| Union of Commercial and Industrial Workers | Trinidad and Tobago | 396 |
| Graphic Arts International Union | United States | 91,394 |

## Leadership
### Secretaries

    1949: Karl Woerler
    1964: Heinz Göke
    1981: Alfred Kaufmann
    1990: Bob Tomlins
    1994: Chris Pate
    1997: Olav Boye

### Chairs

    1949: Adolf Schäfer
    1955: Friedrich Segessenmann
    1958: Ernst Leuenberger
    1967: John Bonfield
    1976: Leonhard Mahlein
    1983: Erwin Ferlemann
    1994: Rene van Tilborg