The proposed merger with the Printing Industries Association of Australia (PIAA) received 100% endorsement from the 58% of GASAA members who voted. The PIAA was not legally required to ballot its members.

GASAA executive officer Garry Knespal said Fair Work Australia (FWA) would soon advise the associations of the next and likely final step to formally amalgamate.

"While we wait for the official OK from FWA, all the practical requirements for a smooth integration with Printing Industries are now in place," he said.

[Feature: PIAA-GASAA merger part of consolidation trend]

PIAA chief executive Bill Healey said he was pleased with the outcome of the ballot and confident the new organisation would start business in early 2013.

Healey told ProPrint last month that the merged body may not include 'printing' in its name.

"There's a real question as to whether using 'print' reflects the nature of the work a lot of our members are involved in… the challenge is to find a name that maintains the history of the printing industry but is also contemporary enough to ensure we maintain relevance," he said.

"We're not going to change things for the sake of change, but we think in order to be relevant we need to broaden our name in order to take account of what's happening on the ground."

[LinkedIn: Are you a member of an industry association?]

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