Employers’ organisations

The Scot­tish Alliance of Mas­ters in the Print­ing and Kin­dred Trades, now known as Print Scot­land, was formed at a meet­ing in the North British Hotel (now the Bal­moral) in Edin­burgh on 8 Novem­ber 1910 to rep­re­sent the inter­ests of print­ing employ­ers through­out Scot­land. It has gone through sev­er­al name changes, becom­ing the Scot­tish Alliance of Mas­ter Print­ers in 1952, then the Soci­ety of Mas­ter Print­ers of Scot­land in 1960 and the Scot­tish Print Employ­ers Fed­er­a­tion in 1991. From 2010 it was known as Graph­ic Enter­prise Scot­land. There is a list of past pres­i­dents with a pho­to gallery, and the cen­te­nary his­to­ry Mechan­i­cal to dig­i­tal print­ing in Scot­land by Pro­fes­sor John Gen­nard is avail­able through our online shop.

Click on the links below to see lists of office bear­ers and mem­ber com­pa­nies (grouped by local asso­ci­a­tion) over the peri­od 1923–1983.

Scot­tish Alliance 1923

Scot­tish Alliance 1934

Scot­tish Alliance 1943

Scot­tish Alliance 1953

Soci­ety of Mas­ter Print­ers of Scot­land 1964

Soci­ety of Mas­ter Print­ers of Scot­land 1973

Soci­ety of Mas­ter Print­ers of Scot­land 1983

There was also an active Young Mas­ter Print­ers Group, which held its first con­fer­ence in St Andrews in 1928. A short his­to­ry was writ­ten to mark the 50th anniver­sary of its foundation.

Local asso­ci­a­tions were the main­stay of the employ­ers’ organ­i­sa­tion: these were:

• Aberdeen Print­ing and Kin­dred Trades Employ­ers’ Asso­ci­a­tion. First met in Novem­ber 1912: branch formed March 1918
• Ayr­shire Print­ing and Kin­dred Trades Employ­ers’ Asso­ci­a­tion. First met in 1914: branch formed Novem­ber 1918
• Cen­tral Coun­ties Print­ing and Kin­dred Trades Employ­ers’ Asso­ci­a­tion. Branch formed May 1919
• Dum­fries and Gal­loway Mas­ter Print­ers Association
• Dundee Print­ing and Kin­dred Trades Employ­ers’ Asso­ci­a­tion. First met in Octo­ber 1910: branch formed Feb­ru­ary 1917
• Edin­burgh Print­ing and Kin­dred Trades Employ­ers’ Asso­ci­a­tion. First met pri­or to 1792: branch formed April, 1917: a list of EMPS pres­i­dents 1917–1991 has been compiled
• Fifeshire Print­ing and Kin­dred Trades Employ­ers’ Asso­ci­a­tion. Branch formed 1920
• For­farshire Print­ing and Kin­dred Trades Employ­ers’ Asso­ci­a­tion. Branch formed May 1919
• Glas­gow Dis­trict Print­ing and Kin­dred Trades Employ­ers’ Asso­ci­a­tion. First met in Decem­ber 1876: branch formed April 1917
• Greenock Mas­ter Print­ers’ Asso­ci­a­tion­La­nark­shire Dis­trict Print­ing and Kin­dred Trades Employ­ers’ Asso­ci­a­tion. Branch formed March 1926
• North­ern Coun­ties Print­ing and Kin­dred Trades Employ­ers’ Asso­ci­a­tion. Branch formed Decem­ber 1920
• Perth Print­ing and Kin­dred Trades Employ­ers’ Asso­ci­a­tion. First met in ear­ly 1918. Branch formed June 1918
• Scot­tish Bor­der Dis­trict Print­ing and Kin­dred Trade Employ­ers’ Asso­ci­a­tion. Branch formed July 1919