The Tobacco Workers International Union (TWIU) was a labor union representing workers in the tobacco industry in the United States and Canada.

History

The union was founded on May 25, 1895, at a conference in

St. Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

, which brought together ten local unions. Initially named the National Tobacco Workers' Union, becoming the TWIU in 1899. The union immediately faced opposition from the

American Tobacco Company The American Tobacco Company was a tobacco company founded in 1890 by J. B. Duke through a merger between a number of U.S. tobacco manufacturers including Allen and Ginter and Goodwin & Company. The company was one of the original 12 members of ...

. In response, it promoted a boycott of the company, while encouraging independent companies which permitted it to organize to place

union label A union label (sometimes called a union bug) is a label, mark or emblem which advertises that the employees who make a product or provide a service are represented by the labor union or group of unions whose label appears, in order to attract cus ...

s in their products. It also fought to end the use of

child labor Child labour refers to the exploitation of children through any form of work that deprives children of their childhood, interferes with their ability to attend regular school, and is mentally, physically, socially and morally harmful. Such e ...

in the

tobacco industry The tobacco industry comprises those persons and companies who are engaged in the growth, preparation for sale, shipment, advertisement, and distribution of tobacco and tobacco-related products. It is a global industry; tobacco can grow in any ...

, and to improve working conditions. In 1916, workers in various factories across New York and the Mid West walked out to demand wage increases. This led the union to become more militant, and it had particular success in recruiting workers in

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...

. By 1920, membership had risen to 15,200, but reversals in North Carolina reduced this figure to only 1,500 in 1925, and the union came close to bankruptcy. However, it recovered through organizing workers in the

Axton-Fisher Tobacco Company Axton-Fisher Tobacco Company, founded in 1903, was a Louisville, Kentucky-based manufacturer of cigarettes that played a key role in popularizing menthol cigarettes, with its Spud brand. It was acquired by Philip Morris Companies Inc. in 1944. Ment ...

, which experienced rapid growth. Working conditions in tobacco factories of

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were very poor in the 1920s and 1930s, with two writers stating that conditions had "changed very little since the days of

slavery Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...

."Fletcher, Bill, Jr., and Peter Agard
"The Indispensable Ally: Black Workers and the Formation of the CIO."
''The Dispatcher'', February 2000 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 The National Negro Congress (NNC) (1936–ca. 1946) was an American organization formed in 1936 at Howard University as a broadly based organization with the goal of fighting for Black liberation; it was the successor to the League of Struggle for N ...

, established the Tobacco Stemmers' and Laborers' Industrial Union (TSLIU) in Richmond, and these unionization efforts spread to other local workplaces. The union's leading figure from its formation until 1940 was E. Lewis Evans, who opposed strikes. In order to consolidate his power, he discouraged the arrangement of any conventions; none were held between 1900 and 1939, in which year he was ordered by a court to permit one to be run. At the convention, his perspectives were defeated, and all but one of the executive board were replaced. The TWIU organized at the Liggett and Myers tobacco plant in

Durham, North Carolina Durham ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of North Carolina and the county seat of Durham County, North Carolina, Durham County. Small portions of the city limits extend into Orange County, North Carolina, Orange County and Wake County, North Carol ...

for many years around issues of seniority and

civil rights Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and political life of ...

.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
On August 17, 1978, the TWIU merged into the

Bakery and Confectionery Workers' International Union The Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers' International Union (BCTGM) is a labor union in the United States and Canada primarily representing workers in the food processing industry. The union was established in 1886 as the Jo ...

Leadership

Presidents

:1895: John Fischer :1908: A. McAndrews :1921: W. R. Walden :1926: E. Lewis Evans :1940: W. Warren Smith :1943: Radford G. Powell :1944: John O'Hare :1968: Howard W. Vogt :1970: Rene Rondou

Secretary-Treasurers

:1895: E. Lewis Evans :1940: Robert J. Petree :c.1970: Homer Cole

References

External links

The Tobacco Worker
St. Louis, Mo.: National Tobacco Worker's Union of America, 1897–1943.
Tobacco Workers International Union (TWIU) archives, 1896–1979
136.00 linear feet. University of Maryland Libraries, Labor History Collection, Special Collections and University Archives. {, , {{Authority control Defunct trade unions in the United States Tobacco in the United States 1895 establishments in the United States Tobacco industry trade unions African-American trade unions Agriculture and forestry trade unions in the United States Trade unions established in 1895 1978 disestablishments in the United States Trade unions disestablished in 1978