New-York tribune., 1919-08-14
Strike Here Causes
Daily Shortage of
100000 Cigars
Industry Is at Standstill in
and About New York,
Employers Say; 10000
Out in Tobacco Trade

New York's strike of $4,000 cigar
makers is causing shortage Of 4,500,-
600 cigars day
Strikers and employers both said
yesterday that the industry in and
about New York is at standstill and
that although the men have been idle
since July l there appears no prospect
of settlement.
Union officials asserted that con-
tlnued non production is bound to
cause serious shortage of cigars and
materially increased cost to the con-
sumer. Officials Of the Cigar Manu-
tacturers' Association of America said
enough cigars are being made in the
uhaHected dlstrlcts of the country to
overcome the shortage here.
"The manufacturers are willing to
grant the cigar makers all they de-
mand, but they are not willing to be
dictated to by outsiders who are be-
hind the strike" said an official of
the association yesterday.
At strike headquarters, 32l East
Seventy-t thrd Street, j. Melhado, chair
man of the strike committee, said that
besides the $4,000 cigar makers, 5000
cigarette makers, strippers, banders
and packers were out. He said that
when the strike was called in July
only 25 per cent of the men were or
ganized, but that since then 40 per
cent have come into the union. Prac-
tically all the men still unorganized
are in sympathy with the strike, he
said.
Demands of Strikers
Demands of the strikers, according
to the union officials, are:
A forty-four-h week, as against
irregular hours, often amounting to
sixty hours a week.
uniform scale of pay, amounting
TO a general increase over present
pay of so per cent. Instead of SIS
to $50 week, which is said to be
the average pay at present, the de-
mand is for $27 to $50 a week.
Abolition Of child labor in the to-
bacco industry. The union contends
that In son,e factories in New Jersey
children between twelve and sixteen
years old are being employed.
Some of the facts about the strike,
according to NJ. S. Brandon, of the
strike committee, are:
Ten thousand cigar makers in
Philadelphia have struck in SYM
pathy, while throughout Pennsyl-
vania 10000 are out. In Chicago
practically all cigar makers have
quit. The number of strikers through
out the country exceeds 100000.
If the manufacturers grant the
strikers demands they could cover
the so per cent increase in pay by
increasing the average price of a
cigar by u cents.
About 100000. 900 cigars, or enough
to give every New Yorker a couple
of pocketfuls, have been withheld
from production because of the
strike
Need of Increase Told
"What we are striving for is to give
cigar makers a chance to enjoy the
American standard of living" said Mr..
Brandon. Their pay will have to be
increased SO per cent before they can
begin to think of decent living. Cigar
makers are the poorest paid of all
skilled workers. They have been work
ing under the old system of indefinite
hours and chance pay. In shops where
piece work prevails, the men have to
work as much as sixty hours a week
to make bare living. Making 25O
cigars day for SIS to SEQ week is
not in accordance with the times.
"Now we are coming forth as a
united industry and are asking for
uniform hours and pay. We believe
it will not be long before the short
age of cigars will make it impe rative
for the manufacturers to meet our de-
mands"