Society of Graphical and Allied Trades

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Society of Graphical and Allied Trades (SOGAT) was a British trade union in the printing industry.

SOGAT was formed in 1966 by the National Union of Printing, Bookbinding and Paper Workers and the National Society of Operative Printers and Assistants (Natsopa). The National Union of Printing, Bookbinding and Paper Workers became the Society of Graphical and Allied Trades Division A and Natsopa became the Society of Graphical and Allied Trades Division 1. The aim was to achieve a complete merger over time, but differences led to in-fighting and in 1972 the two divisions split, Division A retaining the name Society of Graphical and Allied Trades and Division 1 becoming the National Society of Operative Printers, Graphical and Media Personnel (but retaining the Natsopa acronym).

In 1975, SOGAT officially became the Society of Graphical and Allied Trades 1975 (SOGAT '75) after amalgamation with the Scottish Graphical Association. In 1982, SOGAT '75 and Natsopa finally amalgamated to become the Society of Graphical and Allied Trades 1982 (SOGAT '82). In 1992, SOGAT '82 merged with the National Graphical Association to form the Graphical, Paper and Media Union, which subsequently merged with Amicus to become that union's Graphical, Paper and Media industrial sector.

Brenda Dean was general secretary of SOGAT '82 from 1985 to 1992.