ITU Delegates Agree to Merger of Unions

Delegates to the 127th convention of the International Typographical Union approved a proposed merger with the Communications Workers of America, an ITU spokesman announced Friday.

The proposed merger, in which the ITU would be absorbed by the CWA and given its own division, was approved narrowly by 200 delegates from 145 locals nationwide, ITU spokesman Dave Prosten said. The pro-merger vote, Prosten said, was 14,266 to 14,042. The issue now goes before rank-and-file members of the ITU.

The ITU, a 134-year-old craft union, represents printers and mailroom workers primarily. It has 40,000 active members, but its ranks have been eroded since the mid-1960s by new printing technologies.