The Graphical, Paper and Media Union (GPMU) was a

trade union A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ...

in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

and

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

between 1991 and 2005.

History

The GPMU was formed from the merger of SOGAT and the

National Graphical Association The National Graphical Association (NGA) was a trade union representing typographers and related workers in the United Kingdom. History The union was formed in 1964 by the merger of two long-term rival unions, the Typographical Association and ...

(NGA) and claimed to be the world's largest media union, having over 200,000 members working in the print, publishing,

paper Paper is a thin sheet material produced by mechanically or chemically processing cellulose fibres derived from wood, rags, grasses or other vegetable sources in water, draining the water through fine mesh leaving the fibre evenly distrib ...

, IT and

media Media may refer to: Communication * Media (communication), tools used to deliver information or data ** Advertising media, various media, content, buying and placement for advertising ** Broadcast media, communications delivered over mass e ...

industries. The general secretaries of both predecessor unions stood in the GPMU leadership election, with an agreement that the loser would become Deputy General Secretary. Tony Dubbins of the NGA narrowly defeated

Brenda Dean Brenda Dean, Baroness Dean of Thornton-le-Fylde, (29 April 1943 – 13 March 2018) was a British trade unionist and Labour Party (UK), Labour Party politician. As general secretary of SOGAT from 1985 until 1991, she was "the first woman elected ...

of SOGAT, by 78,654 votes to 72,657.Peter Bain and John Gennard, ''A History of the Society of Graphical and Allied Trades'', p. 177 Dubbins served as general secretary throughout the GPMU's existence, but Dean stood down after one year ; in 1994,

Tony Burke Anthony Stephen Burke (born 4 November 1969) is an Australian politician serving as Leader of the House, Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations and Minister for the Arts since 2022. He is a member of the Australian Labor Party (ALP ...

became Deputy General Secretary. The first General President was Bryn Griffith, former General President of the NGA, who defeated Danny Seargant of SOGAT. Griffith was succeeded by Doug Douglas, following a controversial High Court case, when the union tried to ignore the ballot result in 1995. Facing a decline in membership, in February 2004, GPMU opened merger negotiations with the skilled engineering, manufacturing and white collar union Amicus. In August 2004, results of a ballot of all members were released, showing 86% of members in favour of merger. The formal merger took place in early 2005, (at the same time the finance union UNIFI joined Amicus) and GPMU became the semi-autonomous Graphical, Paper and Media sector of Amicus. Tony Dubbins became the Deputy General Secretary of Amicus and Tony Burke became Assistant General Secretary of Amicus. Tony Dubbins was also the union's political head and Chair of TULO. He retired to Spain in October, 2008. Amicus merged with the

Transport & General Workers Union The Transport and General Workers' Union (TGWU or T&G) was one of the largest general trade unions in the United Kingdom and Ireland – where it was known as the Amalgamated Transport and General Workers' Union (ATGWU) to differentiate its ...

in May 2007 to form

Unite the Union Unite the Union, commonly known as Unite, is a British and Irish trade union which was formed on 1 May 2007 by the merger of Amicus and the Transport and General Workers' Union (TGWU). Unite is the second largest trade union in the UK (afte ...

. The GPM sector of Amicus become the Graphical, Paper & Media sector of Unite the Union. Tony Burke became the Assistant General Secretary of Unite responsible for the union's manufacturing section. In 2014 faced with major changes to the print, communications and the media industries, the Unite sectors GPM merged with Information, Technology and Communications sector to form the GPM ITC sector, currently known as the GPM & IT sector. A permanent display of memorabilia and the history of the print and papermaking unions of the UK and Ireland is housed at the Marx Memorial Library in Clerkenwell, London.

Election results

The union sponsored several Parliamentary candidates, many of whom won election. All such sponsorship arrangements ended in 1995, when the Labour Party changed its rules.

References

External links

UniteGraphical, Paper and Media sector of UniteCatalogue of the GPMU archives
held at the Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick
Catalogue of the Printing Machine Branch archives
held at the Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick {{Authority control Trade unions established in 1992 Trade unions disestablished in 2005 Defunct trade unions of the United Kingdom Defunct trade unions of Ireland Printing trade unions Trade unions based in Bedfordshire