AGC Files Chapter 7, Dissolves
NEW YORK—The Association for Graphic Communications (AGC), which aided Big Apple printers in the days and months following September 11, 2001, but found its own survival impossible due to huge debt and high rent, has filed for Chapter 7 liquidation bankruptcy, the AGC announced in a letter to association members.
The AGC’s board and executive committee made the decision in early January to shut down the 140-year-old PIA affiliate, after attempts to negotiate some relief with creditors were rebuffed. Growing, aged payables also factored into the association’s decision to file.
“There were a lot of long nights spent discussing how to work things out,” noted Joseph Bracato, chairman of the board for the AGC. “We spent most of last summer on it. In the end, we thought this was the best thing for membership.”
The filing took place February 2. The AGC office has been shuttered and its entire staff laid off.
With the filing, AGC will have its charter revoked by PIA/GATF. PIA New York State (PIA/NYS) will be awarded the former AGC territory, which includes—in addition to New York City—northern New Jersey, Long Island, Westchester and Rockland. Vicki Keenan has been hired by PIA/NYS to help ensure member services continue uninterrupted, and the chapter may rename itself in order to reflect the larger scope of its coverage area.
“It is critical that longstanding and potential members of PIA/GATF be served by a viable and healthy organization that can offer powerful local membership benefits,” Michael Makin, president and CEO of PIA/GATF, said in a statement announcing the awarding of the old AGC territory to PIA/NYS. “PIA of NYS has proven to be one of our most successful affiliates and we are convinced printers and vendors in the region will be well served by this organization.”
PIA/NYS has served upstate New York and northwestern Pennsylvania for more than 70 years.
