The Swiss Lithographers' Union (, SLB; ) was a

trade union A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...

representing printers in Switzerland. The union was founded in 1888 in

Winterthur Winterthur (; ) is a city in the canton of Zurich in northern Switzerland. With over 120,000 residents, it is the country's List of cities in Switzerland, sixth-largest city by population, as well as its ninth-largest agglomeration with about 14 ...

, to represent

lithographer Lithography () is a planographic method of printing originally based on the immiscibility of oil and water. The printing is from a stone (lithographic limestone) or a metal plate with a smooth surface. It was invented in 1796 by the German ...

s and other flat-bed printers, such as copperplate printers and chemographers. It based itself in

Bern Bern (), or Berne (), ; ; ; . is the ''de facto'' Capital city, capital of Switzerland, referred to as the "federal city".; ; ; . According to the Swiss constitution, the Swiss Confederation intentionally has no "capital", but Bern has gov ...

and in 1893 it affiliated to the

Swiss Trade Union Federation The Swiss Trade Union Federation (, SGB; ; , USS) is the largest national trade union center in Switzerland. History The federation was founded in 1880. The SGB has close ties with the Social Democratic Party of Switzerland (SPS). Ruth Dreifuss ...

(SGB). The union came into frequent demarcation disputes with the

Swiss Typographers' Union The Swiss Typographers' Union (, STB; ) was a trade union representing printers, based in Switzerland. The union was founded in 1858 in Olten, becoming the first enduring trade union in Switzerland. It achieved early success by negotiating wage i ...

, and was suspended from the SGB from 1925 until 1928 amid a dispute over offset printers; to rejoin, it had to concede that they should join its rival. Despite this, the union grew, by 1954, it had 3,059 members, From 1944 to 1958, the union's central secretary was Friedrich Segessenmann. and by 1979 this had risen to 6,279. In the 1980s, professional boundaries in the industry weakened, and in 1998 it merged with

Union of Printing and Paper The Union of Printing and Paper (, GDP; ) was a trade union representing most printing industry workers in Switzerland. The union was founded in 1980, when the Swiss Typographers' Union merged with the Swiss Bookbinders' and Carton Makers' Union. ...

, the Employees' Union of the Swiss Book Trade, and the Swiss Union of Journalists, to form Comedia.

References

{{Authority control Lithographers' trade unions Trade unions in Switzerland Trade unions established in 1888 Trade unions disestablished in 1998