{{short description, Former trade union of the United Kingdom
The Printing Machine Managers' Trade Society (PMMTS) 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 ( ...
representing supervisors of machinery in the printing trade.
The union was founded in 1839 as the London Printing Machine Managers' Trade Society. Steam-powered printing machines were being gradually introduced to the trade, and its members differentiated themselves from the compositors who held membership of existing societies. By the 1880s, the
London Society of Compositors
The London Society of Compositors was a British trade union, representing print workers in London.
History
The union was founded as the London Union of Compositors in 1834 by the merger of the London Trade Society of Compositors and the Londo ...
and the
Typographical Association
The Typographical Association (TA) was a trade union representing typographers in the United Kingdom and Ireland.
History
The National Typographical Association collapsed in 1848, and delegates from across Yorkshire and Lancashire met at Angel ...
also tried to recruit machine managers, and because of the conflict, the society did not initially join the
Printing and Kindred Trades Federation
The Printing and Kindred Trades Federation (P&KTF) was a trade union federation in the United Kingdom.
History
The federation was established at a conference in Manchester on 8 September 1890, organised on the initiative of George D. Kelley. Th ...
. Instead, the union removed "London" from its name, and attempted to organise nationally.Arthur Marsh and John B. Smethurst, ''Historical Directory of Trade Unions'', vol.5
The union focused on matters directly relating to the industry, and did not pay benefits to members who were out of work. To cover this, it set up a related organisation, the "Machine Managers' Benefit Society".
The union grew steadily for many years, membership reaching 1,525 in 1892, and about 4,500 in 1925. It generally voted against mergers with other unions, rejecting an amalgamation with the Platen Printing Machine Minders' Society or the
National Society of Operative Printers and Assistants
The National Society of Operative Printers and Assistants (NATSOPA) was a British trade union.
History
Formed as part of the New Unionism movement in September 1889, the union was originally named the Printers' Labourers' Union and was led b ...
in 1912, but the London United Society of Plate Printers did join in 1919.
Trades Union Congress
The Trades Union Congress (TUC) is a national trade union centre
A national trade union center (or national center or central) is a federation or confederation of trade unions in a country. Nearly every country in the world has a national tra ...
, "Obituary: Percy Astins", ''Annual Report of the 1963 Trades Union Congress'', p.302 It finally agreed a working arrangement with the London Society of Compositors in 1953, and merged into that union two years later.
General Secretaries
:1860s: John Shreeve
:c.1890: Daniel David Leahy
:1890s: W. Bowns
:1895: J. Dewar
:1901: Henry Wilson Howes
:1935: F. J. Kitts
:1945:
Percy Astins
Percy Astins (22 February 1888 – 1 March 1963) was a British trade unionist and politician.
Astins became active in the London United Society of Plate Printers, and served as its final general secretary. In 1919, he took the union into a merge ...