PTTI Archives

Period  1913-2000
Total size   67.5 m.
Consultation Not restricted

History

An international conference of postal, telegraph and telephone workers, held in Paris in 1911 established the International Federation of Posts, Telegraphs and Telephones, a predecessor of the Postal, Telegraph and Telephone International (PTTI); the formal foundation, under the name PTTI, was delayed until the Congress in 1920 in Milan; the secretariat was seated in Vienna until 1933, transferred to Bern and Brussels and from 1969 to Geneva; it became one of the International Trade Secretariats (ITS's) of the International Federation of Trade Unions (IFTU); from 1945-1949 the PTTI was affiliated with the World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU), but became since 1949 one of the ITS's of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU); the supreme authority is the congress, which meets every three years, elects the president and the general secretary, confirms members of the executive committee, formulates policy, sets affiliation fees and has sole power to amend statutes; the executive board consists of the president, general secretary and ten representatives of affiliated unions allocated on a regional basis; the board supervises the administration and the implementation of congress decisions, considers reports and proposals from affiliates and settles the budget; from 1955 regional offices in Europe, Africa, Asia/Australia and the Americas were set up; because originally many postal and telephone companies were state owned, there has been collaboration with the Public Services International (PSI); both PTTI and PSI are affiliated to the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU); the first Inter-American regional conference took place in 1956, and the first regional conferences for Africa, Europe and Asia followed in 1957, 1958 and 1959 respectively; its publications include PTTI-News and PTTI-Studies; general secretaries were Ludwig Maier (1920-1933), Franz Rohner (1933-1940), Fritz Gmür (1940-1965) and since 1965 Stefan Nedzynski . PTTI-presidents were J.W. Bowen (1920-1949), Charles Geddes (1949-1957), William Norton (1957-1960) and from 1960 Carl Stenger , Ivan E. Reddish , Ernst Breit , Glenn E. Watts and Akira Yamagishi .

Content

Records of International Federation of Posts, Telegraphs and Telephones: some early correspondence and annual reports 1913-1914 (copies); files on World Congresses 1981, 1997 containing agenda, proceedings, reports, resolutions and correspondence; proceedings of the meetings of the Executive Committee 1995-1997; circulars 1996-1997; statutes and drafts of statutes and other rules 1922, 1928, 1937-1938, 1962, with some correspondence and reports; correspondence with officials and members of the Executive Committee 1934-1995, in particular with the secretary-general; records of the PTTI regional organizations: the African, Asian, European and Inter American Regional Offices, conferences, seminars, congresses; of Advisory Committee meetings 1956-1996: proceedings, reports, agenda, correspondence with regional representatives, reports of trips to various countries in the regions; correspondence with affiliated and nonaffiliated trade unions in various countries 1933-1941, 1945-2000; with the Austrian Relief Fund 1934; with Spanish affiliated organizations during the Spanish Civil War 1935-1939; with Russian PTT trade unions 1934-1938; files on the reconstruction after the Second World War and the conflicts within the international trade union movement 1945-1949; correspondence with international trade union organizations, including the ICFTU, International Trade Secretariats (ITS), European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) and other international organizations including UNO, International Labour Organisation (ILO), Conférence Européenne des Administrations des Postes et des Télécommunications (CEPT), European Community, European Council 1934-1939, 1946-1996; financial records 1933-1939, 1957-1979; files on the publication of periodicals and pamphlets of the PTTI 1945-1972; press clippings; reports on special subjects; documentation on various countries including Argentina, Chile, Japan, Pakistan and Poland.

Additional records 1964-2000, including documents on affiliated unions in Poland 1982-1994, Rumania 1990-1992 and South Africa 1986-1998.

Arrangement

Inv.nos 1-464: periodicals of the PTTI, some books, published reports and pamphlets have been transferred to the library of the IISH; photographs and posters have been transferred to the audiovisual department of the IISH.; the size of this part of the archives is 46.50 m.

Inv.nos. 465-487: arranged, as far as possible according to the order of the old list; some documents are integrated in the first part of the archive; periodicals, books and published reports have been transferred to the library of the IISH; the size of this accrual is 2.7 m.

Inv.nos. 488-513: has been arranged according to the order of the already existing lists; photographs have been transferred to the audiovisual department of the IISH and periodicals, books and published reports to the library of the IISH; the size of this accrual is 3.25 m.

Inv.nos. 514-609: the size of this accrual is 4.15 m.

Inv.nos. 610-641: the size of this accrual is 1.15 m.

Inv.nos. 642-720: the size of this accrual is 9.75 m.

Processing information

List made by Henk Hondius in 1991 and 2000