President Barack Obama announced his intent to nominate William J. Boarman as the 26th Public Printer of the United States.
Boarman is currently a vice president of the Communications Workers of America and president of the union’s Printing, Publishing & Media Workers Sector.
Boarman's career in print started in the apprenticeship program of the International Typographical Union and served as his apprenticeship at McArdle Printing Company in Washington, D.C. He became a Journeyman Printer at the Government Printing Office in 1974.
Public Printer Bob Tapella released a statement on nomination, "I am very pleased by the President's selection of Bill Boarman to be the 26th Public Printer of the United States. Bill is no stranger to the GPO, as his career took him other places he remained a strong champion and friend of the GPO, and I hold him in the highest personal regard. I look forward to working with him on a smooth transition."
Discussion
By Chuck on Apr 19, 2010
I can't say it's particularly surprising that we're going to have a Union leader running the GPO, but I can say it doesn't bode well for cost-cutting and efficiency. Or the idea of running the GPO as a business, which the last two guys at least tried very hard to do. As an aside, anyone know how many commercial printing companies in the US are still unionized? And how many employees of those companies there are vs. non-union overall in the US?
By Michael j on Apr 19, 2010
Chuck, I have to disagree about efficiency and cost cutting. The part that caught my eye..
"career in print started in the apprenticeship program of the International Typographical Union and served as his apprenticeship at McArdle Printing Company in Washington, D.C. He became a Journeyman Printer at the Government Printing Office in 1974."
As I read it, this is guy who has gotten his hands dirty and has deep Print dna. By getting to the top of his Union, and then being appointed to the top Printing job in the US, he can also work well with suits. That bodes very well.
I bet lots of Printers would do alot better if they listened alot more to the folks who have spent 10,000 hours producing.
To me, it's that Ben Franklin thing.
By Joshua Martin on Apr 20, 2010
Anybody have a sense on how open to environmental innovation and responsible printing this new Public Printer, William Boarman will be?
Discussion
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