International Typographical Union - AFL

AFL

As early as 1879, the International Typographical Union was in the forefront of organized labor. The ITU was instrumental in the formation of the Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions in 1882. In the same time frame, the ITU rejected the Knights of Labor. In the American Federation of Labor (AFL) presidential election of 1881, William H. Foster of the ITU defeated Samuel Gompers. In 1886, the Cigar Makers Union leader, Samuel Gompers, was elected AFL president. The ITU was the largest and strongest union in the AFL. By the end of the 19th century, ITU President S.B. Donnelly called the ITU the "strongest and most stable printing union in the United States". In 1924, William Green would succeed Gompers as AFL president. The seeds of discord between the AFL and ITU were sown.