Editing Graphical, Paper and Media Union

{{Short description|1991–2005 trade union in the UK}}

{{Infobox union
| name         = GPMU
| location_country= [[United Kingdom]]
| affiliation  = [[Trades Union Congress|TUC]]
| members      = 282,000 (1991<ref>David Needle, ''Business in Context: An Introduction to Business and Its Environment'', p.139</ref>)
| full_name    = Graphical, Paper and Media Union
| image        = Graphical, Paper and Media Union logo.jpg
| founded      = 1991
| dissolved    = 2005
| merged       = [[Amicus (trade union)|Amicus]]
| headquarters = 63-67 Bromham Road, [[Bedford]]
| key_people   = [[Tony Dubbins]], General Secretary
| website      = {{URL|http://www.gpmu.org.uk/}}
| footnotes    = 
}}

The '''Graphical, Paper and Media Union''' ('''GPMU''') was a [[trade union]] in the [[United Kingdom]] and [[Republic of Ireland|Ireland]] between 1991 and 2005.

==History==
The GPMU was formed from the merger of [[SOGAT]] and the [[National Graphical Association]] (NGA) and claimed to be the world's largest media union, having over 200,000 members working in the [[Letterpress printing|print]], [[publishing]], [[paper]], [[Information technology|IT]] and [[Mass media|media]] industries.

The general secretaries of both predecessor unions stood in the GPMU leadership election, with an agreement that the loser would become Deputy General Secretary.  [[Tony Dubbins]] of the NGA narrowly defeated [[Brenda Dean]] of SOGAT, by 78,654 votes to 72,657.<ref name="bain">Peter Bain and John Gennard, ''A History of the Society of Graphical and Allied Trades'', p. 177</ref>  Dubbins served as general secretary throughout the GPMU's existence, but Dean stood down after one year ;<ref>"[http://www.ukwhoswho.com/view/article/oupww/whoswho/U36715/SUTCLIFFE_Gerard Sutcliffe, Gerard]", ''[[Who's Who]]''</ref> in 1994, [[Tony Burke (trade unionist)|Tony Burke]] became Deputy General Secretary. The first General President was Bryn Griffith, former General President of the NGA, who defeated Danny Sergeant of SOGAT.<ref name="bain" />  Griffith was succeeded by Doug Douglas, following a controversial High Court case, when the union tried to ignore the ballot result in 1995.

Facing a decline in membership, in February 2004, GPMU opened merger negotiations with the skilled engineering, manufacturing and white collar union [[Amicus (trade union)|Amicus]]. In August 2004, results of a ballot of all members were released, showing 86% of members in favour of merger. The formal merger took place in early 2005, (at the same time the finance union [[UNIFI (trade union)|UNIFI]] joined Amicus) and GPMU became the semi-autonomous Graphical, Paper and Media sector of Amicus. Tony Dubbins became the Deputy General Secretary of Amicus and Tony Burke became Assistant General Secretary of Amicus. Tony Dubbins was also the union's political head and Chair of TULO. He retired to Spain in October, 2008.

Amicus merged with the [[Transport and General Workers' Union|Transport & General Workers Union]] in May 2007 to form [[Unite the Union]].<ref>{{Cite web|date=September 12, 2007|title=Amicus and T&G merger creates Britain's biggest union|url=https://www.pressgazette.co.uk/amicus-and-tg-merger-creates-britains-biggest-union/|access-date=2021-07-25|website=[[Press Gazette]]|language=en-US}}</ref> The GPM sector of Amicus become the Graphical, Paper & Media sector of Unite the Union.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Hall|first1=Mark|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VFC7I31RtiQC&dq=Graphical%2C+Paper+&pg=PA102|title=Consultation at Work: Regulation and Practice|last2=Purcell|first2=John|date=2012-10-25|publisher=OUP Oxford|isbn=978-0-19-960546-0|pages=102|language=en}}</ref>

Tony Burke became the Assistant General Secretary of Unite responsible for the union's manufacturing section.

In 2014 faced with major changes to the print, communications and the media industries, the Unite sectors GPM merged with Information, Technology and Communications sector to form the GPM ITC sector,<ref>{{Cite web|last=Goldbart|first=Max|date=February 6, 2017|title=Can the unions keep pace with big changes in the industry?|url=https://www.printweek.com/briefing/article/can-the-unions-keep-pace-with-big-changes-in-the-industry|access-date=2021-07-25|website=Printweek|language=en}}</ref> currently known as the GPM & IT sector.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Graphical, Paper, Media & Information Technology|url=https://www.unitetheunion.org/what-we-do/unite-in-your-sector/graphical-paper-media-information-technology/|access-date=2021-07-25|website=www.unitetheunion.org|language=en}}</ref>

A permanent display of memorabilia and the history of the print and [[papermaking]] unions of the UK and Ireland is housed at the Marx Memorial Library in Clerkenwell, London.

==Election results==
The union sponsored several Parliamentary candidates, many of whom won election.  All such sponsorship arrangements ended in 1995, when the [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour Party]] changed its rules.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Times Guide to the House of Commons April 1992 |date=1992 |work=The Times |location=London |pages=32–249}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Brown |first1=Colin |title=Labour to end union backing of MPs |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/labour-to-end-union-backing-of-mps-1595245.html |accessdate=16 October 2018 |work=The Independent |date=8 August 1995}}</ref>

{| class="wikitable sortable"
! Election !! Constituency !! Candidate !! Votes !! Percentage !! Position
|-
|rowspan=7| [[1992 United Kingdom general election|1992 general election]] || [[Bradford North (UK Parliament constituency)|Bradford North]] || {{sortname|Terry|Rooney|Terry Rooney (politician)}} || 23,420 || 47.8 || 1
|-
| [[Clackmannan (UK Parliament constituency)|Clackmannan]] || {{sortname|Martin|O'Neill|Martin O'Neill, Baron O'Neill of Clackmannan}} || 18,829 || 49.1 || 1
|-
| [[Leeds North East (UK Parliament constituency)|Leeds North East]] || {{sortname|Fabian|Hamilton}} || 18,218 || 36.8 || 2
|-
| [[Leicester South (UK Parliament constituency)|Leicester South]] || {{sortname|Jim|Marshall|Jim Marshall (UK politician)}} || 27,934 || 52.3 || 1
|-
| [[Manchester Central (UK Parliament constituency)|Manchester Central]] || {{sortname|Bob|Litherland}} || 23,336 || 72.7 || 1
|-
| [[Newham North East (UK Parliament constituency)|Newham North East]] || {{sortname|Ron|Leighton}} || 20,952 || 58.3 || 1
|-
| [[Stretford (UK Parliament constituency)|Stretford]] || {{sortname|Tony|Lloyd}} || 22,300 || 59.6 || 1
|-
| [[1994 Bradford South by-election|1994 by-election]] || [[Bradford South (UK Parliament constituency)|Bradford South]] || {{sortname|Gerry|Sutcliffe}} || 17,014 || 55.3 || 1
|}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*[http://www.unitetheunion.org/ Unite]
*[http://www.unitetheunion.org/how-we-help/list-of-sectors/graphical-paper-and-media/ Graphical, Paper and Media sector of Unite]
*[https://mrc.epexio.com/records/GPM Catalogue of the GPMU archives], held at the [[Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick]]
*[https://mrc.epexio.com/records/PLM Catalogue of the Printing Machine Branch archives], held at the Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick

{{Portal|Organized labour}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Graphical, Paper and Media Union| ]]
[[Category:Trade unions established in 1992]]
[[Category:Trade unions disestablished in 2005]]
[[Category:Defunct trade unions of the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Defunct trade unions of Ireland]]
[[Category:Printing trade unions]]
[[Category:Trade unions based in Bedfordshire]]