Lithographers and Photoengravers International Union. No. 1-P (New York, N.Y.)

No. 1-P was chartered in 1894 following a decade of trying to organize a profession which was traditionally highly-skilled, highly-paid and generally indifferent towards unionization.

The impetus for organization arose from experiences associated with the demise of the wood-engraving industry and the training of reformatory inmates as photo-engravers by New York State. Through the years, the Union has continually faced technological change, drastically altering the nature of this specialized craft. Consequently, the membership of No. 1-P, which during its height in the 1950s was almost 4,000, presently (1984) stands at about 760. Non-union proliferation in the publishing business has exacerbated the situation even more.

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