International Typographical Union : The National Typographical Union was organized in May 1852, at a meeting of typographical unions from fourteen American cities. Independent printers' unions were established in Canadian cities in the mid-nineteenth century, the first being the Toronto Typographical Union, which was founded in 1832. In 1869, the National Typographical Union adopted a new constitution which enabled the Canadian unions to affiliate and to change the name to the International Typographical Union (ITU). The unions in Toronto, Quebec City and Saint John joined the International immediately. The Ottawa Typographical Union (OTU) No. 102 was established on 17 June 1867 and was the fourth Canadian local to join the ITU.
The local quickly displayed its strength, succeeding in December of 1869 in sustaining its wage scale in its first strike. Later strikes in 1873 and 1883 were not as successful, as publishers used imported strike-breakers to defeat the union. In the early 1900s, the Ottawa local split with the international executive over the eight-hour day and temporarily withdrew from the ITU, attempting to set up a Canadian national typographical union. In 1921, shorter working hours were again the issue as the ITU initiated a North American campaign for the 44-hour week. Ottawa typographers went on strike to back up their demands for shorter hours, but the long strike proved to be a failure.
Although the 44-hour work week was accepted by many Canadian publishers, Ottawa typographical workers, along with their Toronto, Hamilton, and Montreal counterparts, continued to work a 48-hour week.
The strike against the H.S. Southam newspaper chain after the Second World War was perhaps the most disruptive battle waged by the OTU. The Southam strike began in Winnipeg late in 1945. The ITU international executive insisted that ITU laws be included in the terms and conditions of a new Winnipeg agreement and that these laws would not be subject to arbitration. Southam negotiators would not accept this position and Winnipeg printers walked off the job.
When their contracts expired in May 1946, typos at the Hamilton Spectator, the Edmonton Journal, and the Citizen in Ottawa went out in support of their Winnipeg brothers. Early in June, Southam printers at the Vancouver Daily Province followed suit. The strike was never settled in Ottawa, even though Vancouver typographical workers reached agreement with the city's Southam paper in 1949. The OTU did not succeed in reorganizing the Citizen until 1970.
Ottawa typographers were active in the local and national labour scene, producing several prominent Canadian labour leaders. Daniel J. O'Donoghue, an Ottawa printer, served as president of the Ottawa Trades Council in the 1870s and was a member of the ITU international executive, while P.M. Draper, in addition to serving as OTU president, was secretary and president of the Trades and Labour Congress of Canada (TLC). Although the influence of printers diminished over the years, the OTU maintained its tradition of leadership in the Ottawa labour movement.
