A look back at the IPGCU...
1834:	With the invention by Isaac Adams of Boston of a steam driven platen press, pressmen demanded recognition as craftspersons along with typesetters.
1850:	The first national convention of journey printers was held in the United States with delegates from five states.
1852:	The impetus of the 1850 convention led to the pressmen becoming a part of the founding of the National Typographical Union.
1869:	The NTU was renamed the International Typographical Union.
1885:	The pressmen succeeded in getting a vice presidency added to the ITU for their craft.
1889:	On Oct. 8, after failing to get pressmen added to the ITU name in spite of their rapidly growing ranks as a result of 50 years of mechanization, the pressmen founded the International Printing Pressmen's Union.
1890:	American Pressman started as the union's official journal.
1895:	On Nov. 19, the IPPU was chartered by the AFL.
1896:	The press assistants had so grown in numbers, the union's convention added the name to its title, becoming the International Printing Pressmen and Assistants' Union (IPPAU).
1898:	A 9-1/2 hour workday was established in an industry wide agreement with the Typothetae association, followed by a reduction to nine hours before the agreement's end.
1902:	The IPPAU convention delegates were told the realization of the of the nine-hour day did not reduce the momentum to win the eight-hour day.
1907:	George L. Berry, secretary of San Francisco Pressmen's Local 24, was elected at age 24 as the seventh president of the International, beginning a term that spanned 41 years.
1909:	The eight-hour day became effective on Jan. 1.
1910:	Election of officers was changed from convention delegates to a referendum by the members.
1911:	IPPAU, togther with the bookbinders (IBB), photoengravers (IPEU), stereotypers (ISEU), and typographers (ITU) formed the Allied Printing Trades Association, which would have equal ownership of a printing trades union label.
1911:	IPPAU headquarters moved to Pressmen's Home, Tenn.
1913:	The lithographers' union complained to the AFL concerning the IPPAU's new offset school, beginning 70 years of jurisdictional strife.
1917:	Journey correspondence courses in craft training started.
1928:	The union's convention was the last in 12 years, occurring just before the Great Depression.
1934:	The specialty division of the IPPAU was established and the division's first local was chartered on Sept. 7 in San Francisco -- Local 362, specialty/paper converting.
1936:	Members were told they'd taken fewer wage cuts than perhaps any union in the country, that the cuts had been nearly restored and the union had more newspaper and commercial contracts than ever before.
1940:	The convention was so large, sessions were held in a great tent at IPPAU headquarters in Pressmen's Home. A new vice presidency was established for the growing specialty workers division.
1947:	IPPAU and the Union Employers Association (UEA) of the Printing Industries of America arrived at a joint agreement on apprenticeship standards with the U.S. Federal Committee on Apprenticeship and Apprenticeship Training.
1950:	The Specialty Worker was begun as a second union publication for those members.
1952:	The IPPAU had grown to 90,000 members and the "permanent" convention site at Pressmen's Home could no longer accommodate delegates. For the first time in 42 years, the convention was held elsewhere -- in Cincinnati.
1956:	A vice president for the paper handlers was established by convention delegates. A convention statement also declared: "We must unite the printing trades unions for defense and offense in the industry."
1960:	Convention delegates established a $1 million defense fund.
1965:	IPPAU and LPIU leaders met in a series of discussions on the possibility of merger, which failed to result in an agreement.
1965:	IPPAU Pres. Anthony J. DeAndrade was elected an AFL-CIO vice president.
1967:	IPPAU headquarters moved from Pressmen's Home, Tenn., to Washington, D.C.
1973:	IPPAU merged with the ISEU to create the International Printing and Graphic Communications Union (IPGCU).
1976:	Convention delegates established the newspaper organizing fund.
1980:	Convention delegates voted to establish a union-wide organizing fund.
A look back at the GAIU...
1843:	Lithographers in Philadelphia formed a local union, to be followed by New York lithographers in 1850 and 1870 and Cincinnati lithographers in 1868.
1882:	On April 18, journey lithographers formed the Romar Fishing Club in Jersey City Heights, N.J.
1886:	On Feb. 20, lithographers in five cities formed the National Association of Lithographers of the United States and Canada.
1886:	The principle of coordinated bargaining was launched as lithographer locals pledged to work no more than nine hours a day and six days a week.
1890:	The lithographers began using an international union label.
1892:	On May 5, the International Brotherhood of Bookbinders (IBB) was founded in Philadelphia.
1900:	On Oct. 21-22, the International Photoengravers Union (IPEU) was formed in New York by 18 platemakers from seven cities.
1900:	With his own funds, IBB member J.L. Feeney began publication of the union's magazine.
1902:	The IPEU began publishing the Plate Makers Criterion.
1906:	In September, the lithographers began a strike for the 48-hour week.
1907:	The introduction of the first lithographic presses began a jurisdictional controversy between lithographers and the printing pressmen.
1912:	The IPEU firmly established the 48-hour week in 5-1/2 days for commercial shops and six days for newspapers.
1915:	On Jan. 1, the Lithographers' International Protective and Beneficial Association -- formerly called the National Association of Lithographers -- and two other preparatory unions merged to form the Amalgamated Lithographers of America (ALA).
1916:	The IPEU signed its first rotogravure agreements with Van Dyck Gravure Co. and The New York Times.
1919:	On Aug. 15, the ALA signed its first national agreement since 1906, which included the 44-hour week by May 1921.
1919:	The IPEU signed its first 44-hour workweek contract.
1922:	ALA Chicago Local 4 began the union's first training program.
1922:	A two-week, nationwide lockout of IPEU members by employers failed to secure a 25 percent wage cut and return to the 48-hour week.
1925:	In anticipation of resistance to the 40-hour week, the IBB proposed a stronger defense fund.
1927:	New York IPEU employers signed an agreement to reduce the work week to 44 hours in two years.
1930:	Six IPEU agreements won the first 40-hour, five-day week.
1933:	IBB San Francisco Local 31-125 negotiated the union's first five-day work week.
1935:	Some IPEU contracts reported a 37-1/2 hour work week had been negotiated.
1940:	The IPEU won its first paid vacations in its negotiations.
1942:	The IBB reported the first contract to have a 35-hour work week, paid, vacation, and welfare and pension benefits.
1944:	The IPEU instituted paid holidays in many of its contracts.
1949:	ALA eastern Canadian locals won a six-month, industry-wide strike.
1955:	ALA Chicago Local 4 won the union's first 35-hour week. Kansas City and Minneapolis-St. Paul locals quickly followed suit.
1958:	The ALA purchased a building in New York City.
1962:	The ALA affiliated with the International Graphical Federation.
1964:	On Labor Day, the merger of the ALA and IPEU formed the Lithographers and Photoengravers International Union (LPIU).
1964:	LPIU lithographers in Canada won their first 35-hour week, bringing them to par with photoengravers.
1965:	LPIU convention delegates approved a union-wide training program.
1966:	In June, four LPIU locals -- Kansas City 235, Chicago 245, Minneapolis-St. Paul 229, and Philadelphia 14L -- negotiated the union's employer-paid early retirement program.
1968:	In July, IBB convention delegates instructed officers to discuss merger with the LPIU.
1969:	In May, the IBB reported 35 percent of its members were working a 35-hour week.
1970:	Vancouver Local 210 photoengravers were the first Canadians in the LPIU early retirement program.
1971:	On May 10, the LPIU moved into its new headquarters at 1900 L St., NW, in Washington, D.C.
1972:	LPIU eastern Canadian locals won a supplemental unemployment benefits program in their master contract.
1972:	On Labor Day, the LPIU and IBB merged into the Graphic Arts International Union (GAIU).
1976:	GAIU's Project for Equal Progression was launched to upgrade women unionists to higher skilled, higher paying, jobs that traditionally were held by men.
1979:	GAIU members voted to merge the defense funds of the bookbinders and lithographers-photoengravers.
1980:	GAIU membership voted a per capita increase to establish an organizing fund to increase the organizing staff.
1982:	GAIU announced it had agreed to exploratory merger talks with the IPGCU.