Trade unions and trade conditions
The primary sources for information about conditions within the trade can
be found in the records of the trade unions, on the one hand, and of the
Labour Department on the other.
Although a number of
specialised unions for occupations such as the letterpress machinists,
bookbinders, lithographers, and paper-cutters were in existence at
different times, with varying combinations in different regions, these
nearly all came into existence after the Industrial Conciliation and
Arbitration Act 1894, and all were preceded by the various Typographical
Associations which began with the Wellington Typographical Association
in 1862 and were gradually combined into the New Zealand Printing and
Related Trades Union. In 1995, this combined with the New Zealand
Journalists and Graphic Process Union to form the New Zealand Printing,
Packaging and Media Union which has now become a division of the New
Zealand Engineers' Union (since 1996). The combined records of the
successive unions have been deposited in the Victoria University of
Wellington Library Labour Archives collection. The records of the Otago
Typographical Association, and the Otago Branch of the Printing Union,
are divided between the Dunedin Public Library and the Hocken Library of
Otago University. Peter Franks is writing a history of the printing
unions. Vivienne Porzsolt's typescript study, 'New Zealand printing
unions in the 1920s and 1930s' (1982) is in the Turnbull Library's
manuscript section.
Baxter contributed a
brief historical survey to McKay (1940), and there are two centennial
histories of individual branches. P.J. Stewart published Type of a Century in 1974, recounting the history
of printing in Dunedin and Otago from the workman's point of view, with
a more systematic account of the Otago Typographical Association and its
successors from 1873. The Wellington Branch of the New Zealand Printing
and Related Trades Union published Centenary
1862-1962 in 1962, drawing upon the Wellington Typographical
Union's Jubilee Souvenir 1862-1912 for the
earliest years. The Jubilee Souvenir seems to
have drawn heavily on oral histories, but it also made use of such union
records as existed.
Separate publications
of the various unions, such as rulebooks and annual reports, made be
found as individual items in library collections. The union records
contain most of these publications, although many of the small local
unions left no significant records.
Complementing the
union records are those of the Department of Labour. Such records as
survive are held in the National Archives, although a substantial amount
of the material of interest is in the files damaged in the Hope Gibbons
Building fire of 1952. The files which may be relevant are those dealing
with the Factories Act (L/NA/1), the Industrial Conciliation and
Arbitration Act (L/NA/3), and Apprenticeship and Awards (L/NA/4). The
annual reports of the Department, from its first in 1893 ( AJHR H.10, 1893) publish statistical material on
wage rates and employment levels, and occasionally include some brief
information on conditions and accidents.
A much more
substantial source of information on conditions in the trade would be in
the arguments presented to the Arbitration Court during award
applications. The awards themselves, printed in the 'Book of Awards',
correctly Awards, Recommendations, Agreements etc.
(1894/1900-1936), and succeeding titles, do not always give
information on specific points relating to conditions. When the award
defines what is and what is not covered it often specifies particular
aspects of the work; however much of the necessary detail will have been
presented in evidence, spelled out by the union in its application and
refuted by the employers as they can. It will sometimes be recorded in
newspaper reports, but must usually be sought in the records of the
Court (not always preserved), or more fruitfully, in the records of the
union or of the employers. In the case of the first major claim before
the Court in 1912, the unions (a recently federated association) printed
their full argument, the New Zealand Federated Typographical
Association's Dominion Award Dispute , giving
considerable detail on the impact of the new typesetting technology. In
1922 they published the Case for Typographers ,
in another significant dispute, with an analysis of the employers'
figures and arguments. These are the exception. The union journal Imprint (beginning in October 1923) regularly
published summaries of the union case before the Court, and the
Wellington Branch's short-lived Printers' Mallet
(1966-68), likewise reported current developments in industrial
relations. The new union journal, The Printed Word
(1995-), follows this tradition.
Modern occupational
illnesses differ from those of the past: in place of lead poisoning,
burns from lead squirts or acid splashes, and respiratory troubles from
acid vapours for photo-engravers, Imprint was
concerned with occupational overuse syndrome (OOS) for
photo-typesetters, including effects on eyes and brains of overexposure
to visual display terminals (vol.33 no.2 (March 1981) p.7), and The Printed Word (vol.1 no.7, June 1996, p.10)
has an article 'Solvent-induced neurotoxicity—the new
asbestos?' about neurological poisoning from toxic chemicals in
processing machinery, especially when used within inadequately
ventilated premises. For OOS, a more general example of many is an
article by Christine Robertson in the Evening
Standard , Palmerston North, 20 January 1997 (p.5), which deals
with the suffering it causes, and the employers' obligations under the
Health and Safety in Employment Act 1992.
For the period before
the formal sources existed we must rely on informal accounts. The
evidence given to the Sweating Commission of 1889-90 ( AJHR H.5, 1890) contains some extremely useful reports of the
actual conditions experienced by men and women in some establishments,
with some information also from management (notably George Whitcombe of
Whitcombe & Tombs). The Pope, the Prelate and
the Printer (1892) reports in detail the trial when Joseph
Evison, manager of the Catholic Times , sued
officials of the Wellington Typographical Society for libel for
describing his management practices as 'sweating'; the resulting
pamphlet gives much useful detail about the trade conditions of the
time.
For the earlier years
a few sources, chiefly with anecdotes, are available. In 1886 the
publishers of the Otago Daily Times issued a
collection of 'newspaper reports and correspondence' on the 'strike of
compositors' very recently concluded. There are few disputes in the
newspaper trade which have been as clearly and impartially documented.
Harvey's 'Editors and compositors: contemporary accounts of the
nineteenth century New Zealand press' (1990) surveys some of the
documentary sources which provide information. Through the Elibank
Press, Harvey has also published Trials of the
Colonial Printer (1985) which brings together anecdotes to
illustrate the conditions under which the printers worked. McKay's
'Tales of the trade' (1940d) also brings together a collection of
anecdotes gathered by interviews (McKay's extensive collection of
unpublished materials was destroyed by fire in the late 1950s).
The 1885 Government Printing Committee Report ( AJHR I.5, 1885) includes a detailed commentary on
the conditions in the Government Printing Office, as well as comments on
the work-flow and the possible benefits of contracting work out. This is
the only analysis of conditions in any printing establishment to give
such detail.