Birmingham Typographical Union No. 104
The Birmingham Typographical Union No. 104 was the Birmingham local for the International Typographical Union (ITU), representing typesetters and pressmen.
Local No. 104 hosted the 47th International Typographical Union Convention in Birmingham on August 12-17, 1901. Officers at the time were T. T. Nock, president, W. K. Trechsel, recording secretary and William Leath, financial secretary.
The Union's January 19, 1914 banquet in honor of Benjamin Franklin's 208th birthday was attended by more than 150 people at the Empire Hotel. Harris's Orchestra entertained diners who sat through several speeches, presentations and skits. At that time, Robert Schoppert was president and Wallace Peterson was secretary-treasurer. Among the attendees were J. H. F. Mosley and W. H. Jeffries, the only two charter members still active.
In 1945 the Birmingham Typographical Union included the newly-adopted ITU bylaws into its proposed contract with the city's three daily newspapers. The publishers objected to the language, which changed the relationship between parties during collective bargaining. When no contract was approved, the union members went on strike on July 12. Many of them secured traveling cards and took jobs in other cities during the five-week impasse. Mayor Cooper Green prevailed upon the parties' patriotism as Allied victory in World War II was announced, and succeeded in winning concessions from the publishers that ended the strike on August 14.
The Birmingham Typographical Union purchased a shared plat at Forest Hills Cemetery.
Current unions representing newspaper workers in Birmingham include the Printing, Publishing & Media Workers Sector of the Communications Workers of America Local 14307.
References
- "Forty-Seventh Annual Convention of the International Typographical Union" ( ) The Inland Printer, p. 877-882
- "Birmingham, Ala." (March 1914) The Typographical Journal. Vol. 44, No. 3, pp. 337-338