Tobacco Workers International Union

The Tobacco Workers International Union, founded in 1895, fought to end the use of child labor in the tobacco industry, and to improve working conditions.[1]

Working conditions in tobacco factories of Richmond, Virginia were very poor in the 1920s and 1930s, with two writers stating that conditions had "changed very little since the days of slavery."[2] These writers also claimed that Tobacco Workers International Union (TWIU) in Richmond at that time was "entirely ineffective and openly collaborated with the employers." Eventually, in 1937, the “Southern Negro Youth Congress”, a wing of the CIO's National Negro Congress, established the Tobacco Stemmers' and Laborers' Industrial Union (TSLIU) in Richmond, and these unionization efforts spread to other local workplaces.[2]

In 1978 the TWIU merged into the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers' International Union.

The TWIU organized at the Liggett and Myers tobacco plant in Durham, North Carolina for many years around issues of seniority and civil rights.[3]

More complete accounts of the history of the TWIU can be found in the following works:

See also

References

  1. ↑ Tobacco Workers International Union. (1915). Abolish child slavery, make union conditions by purchasing union labeled tobacco, snuff and cigarettes. Louisville, KY: publisher not identified.
  2. 1 2 Fletcher, Bill, Jr., and Peter Agard. The Indispensable Ally: Black Workers and the Formation of the CIO. The Dispatcher, February 2000
  3. ↑ Dries, M. E. (1999). Into the lion's den: TWIU Local 208's fight for seniority rights and civil rights in the Liggett and Myers tobacco plant in Durham, North Carolina, 1937-1968.

External links


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