Amalgamated Lithographers of America

The Amalgamated Lithographers of America (ALA) is a labor union formed in 1915 to conduct collective bargaining on behalf of workers in the craft of lithography. The ALA was established through the amalgamation of several small unions already existing in the lithographic industry, one of which dated back to 1886.

The union remained in independent existence for nearly half a century as part of the American Federation of Labor and its successor federation, the AFL-CIO, until combining with the International Photo-Engravers Union (IPEU) to establish the Lithographers and Photoengravers International Union (LPIU) in 1964.

After a series of subsequent organizational mergers, the core of the ALA remains in existence in the 21st Century as Local One-L of the Graphic Communications Conference of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. Headquarters of the organization are located in New York City.

Traditional lithography is a form of artistic reproduction using techniques first developed around the turn of the 19th Century. A drawing is adhered to a smooth stone by means of an oily crayon or ink, with nitric acid applied to the stone and repelled by the oil, instead working on the unmarked areas and leaving the drawing in relief. The process is both labor-intensive and difficult, and therefore costly, although the reproduction of colors by lithographic means frequently results in a brilliance and precision unequaled by other forms of mass reproduction.

Prior to the American Civil War, lithographers began to establish local trade unions in many of the larger cities of the United States of America. Many of these local organizations were destroyed by the economic chaos and unemployment associated with the Panic of 1857 and did not revive until after the conclusion of the war in 1865.

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