ABSTRACT
The Society of Graphical and Allied Trades (SOGAT) was formed on 1 February 1966 with the amalgamation of the National Union of Printing, Bookbinding and Paperworkers (NUPB&PW) 1 and the National Society of Operative Printers and Assistants (NATSOPA). The former, created in 1921, was a merger of the National Union of Bookbinders and Machine Rulers 2 and the National Union of Printing and Paperworkers. This latter union had been formed in 1914 by a marriage of the National Union of Paper Mill Workers and the National Amalgamated Society of Printer’s Warehousemen and Cutters. 3 The National Society of Operative Printers and Assistants had been formed in London in 1889 as the Printers’ Labourers’ Union for assistants in the machine rooms. 4
