Unite proposed the option of voluntary redundancy to its national officers in July and Sibbald confirmed to PrintWeek that he had now made the decision to leave. "I was given the opportunity to leave a couple of years early and being part of a final salary pension scheme it would be crazy for me not to take it," he said.

Sibbald joined the industry at the age of 16 through a five-year apprenticeship as a metal compositor. On completing his apprenticeship Sibbald became a union official at 21. At 23 he took up the role of Father of the Chapel in his company and by 25 he had become a full time official for Unite.

Sibbald is the last in a line of Unite national officers to be elected by the Graphical, Paper and Media Union (GPMU) – a union formed in 1991 from the merger of the Society of Graphical and Allied Trades (Sogat) and National Graphical Association.

He will be succeeded by Unite’s North West regional secretary, Paul Finnegan, who is a former official of Sogat and the GPMU. Sibbald said: "Suffice it to say that all of my duties will be transferred to Paul and he will have all of the authority and responsibility with all the employers and federations in the print industry.

"I have been in the printing and allied industries all my life. The lead is in my veins so I will miss the industry immensely."

Looking forward Sibbald said that he planned to "do everything a retired person should do". He added: "I am going to swim, fish, spend time on my boat and help look after my grandchildren."

Chief executive of the BPIF Kathy Woodward said he would be sorely missed. "He has seen so much change during his career. We have managers who weren’t even born when horses were charging the crowds down at Wapping - how far we have come," she added.

"I have a huge amount of respect for him and wish him well in his retirement. It would be great to read Steve’s biography so let’s hope he writes the book!"