Learning the job

absence.⁵² This is not a pattern specific to the Tobacco Monopoly or the tobacco industry. As noted by Alfred Chandler and others, higher capital-intensity requires a constant flow of materials though the plant, otherwise the potential benefits of mechanization will turn into a burden.⁵³

Mechanization also brought along a new occupational group to the tobacco industry – metal workers. The most important professions in this exclusively male group were fitters and mechanics who worked on installing, adjusting and repairing machines.⁵⁴ Particularly when the quality of the raw tobacco was poor, the work-load of the fitters was high. In contrast to other workers, mechanics employed by the Tobacco Monopoly were initially not organized by the Tobacco Workers’ Union but belonged to the Iron and Metalworkers’ Union (Svenska jern- och metallarbetareförbundet). It turned out to be difficult for the Tobacco Monopoly to enter into an agreement with this group since the company was not a member of the Swedish Engineering Employers’

Association (Sveriges verkstadsförening). How the issue of membership in this organization, which was raised at a company board meeting in 1920, was discussed is interesting since it reflects the importance of state ownership on industrial relations.⁵⁵ Nilsson moved that the membership proposal should be rejected. In his opinion the Tobacco Monopoly, with its particular relationship to the state, should not join an employers’ association. This argument did not convince the other board members who decided to sanction the membership proposal with the motivation that in relation to the mechanics the Tobacco Monopoly was like any employer. The plans were never carried out.⁵⁶ By 1926, the mechanics had joined the Tobacco Workers’ Union, after instructions from LO that all workers should be organized according to industry.⁵⁷

certain division of labour where different occupational groups carried out different tasks. Some tasks were easier and some were more difficult to learn.

In cigar production before mechanization, skill requirements were the lowest for the various occupations that prepared the raw tobacco.⁵⁹ Cigar-making was considered to be more difficult and require considerable dexterity.

The sorting and packaging of the cigars was considered to be equally, or even more, difficult. The packer did not need to be handy but had to be able to distinguish between numerous colour shades and grade cigars according to quality.⁶⁰ Entrance into cigar-making and sorting often required a formal training period of three to four years, during which the apprentice worked on cheaper brands and at reduced piece-rates.

Figure 5.3 Piece rates for cigar workers in training before and after nationalization

0 20 40 60 80 100 120

1.5 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23 25 27 29 31 33 35 Month

1914 1915

Note: Piece rates are expressed in percentage of the rates for regular workers. Workers in training had a fixed wage during the first six weeks.

Source: MS, FHK, Arbets- och löneavtal, F8F, Öfverenskommelse mellan Svenska cigarrfabrikantföreningen och Internationella tobaksarbetareförbundet i Sverige, 1914; MS, FHK, Arbets- och löneavtal, F8F, Arbets- och löneföreskrifter vid A.-B. Svenska Tobaksmonopolets cigarrfabriker, 1915.

59 Undersökning af tobaksindustrin i Sverige 1899, pp 63-64.

60 Undersökning af tobaksindustrin i Sverige 1899, pp 63-64.

The term ‘apprentice’ was abolished in 1915.⁶¹ The principle of having a training period with reduced pay remained, but a striking difference compared with previous conditions was that workers in training received higher compensation, as shown in figure 5.3. From a theoretical perspective, this fact is not surprising; when the industry was nationalized, skills that formerly had been of general character became firm-specific. Since workers could not offer their services to competitors in the same industry, the company faced a lower risk when paying for training than previous employers had done.

Over time, formal training periods for tobacco workers were shortened as mechanization made work less demanding.⁶² According to the agreement of 1918, the pay for new workers was raised stepwise over the first 28 weeks.⁶³ In the following year this training and trial period was cut to 26 weeks, which was the general norm until the mid-1920s when the training and trial period was halved to 13 weeks.⁶⁴ This formal stipulation remained unchanged throughout the rest of the period of our investigation.⁶⁵ During the 1930s, mechanization was so advanced that many jobs, according to a statement made by a management representative to a public inquiry, required only a few weeks or months of training.⁶⁶ According to this source, worker performance was more

61 MS, FHK, Arbets- och löneavtal, F8F: 1, Öfverenskommelse mellan Svenska cigarrfabrikanföreningen och Internationella tobaksarbetareförbundet i Sverige 1914; MS, FHK, F8F: 1, Arbets- och löneföreskrifter vid A.-B. Svenska Tobaksmonopolets cigarrfabriker 1915.

62 Arbetslöshetsutredningens betänkande i bilagor, band 2. Om den industriella rationaliseringen och dess verkningar särskilt beträffande arbetarsysselsättningen 1931, p 69. How skill requirements changed during the Second Industrial Revolutions is a much debated issue. For an introduction to the debate, see Lundh Nilsson 2007, pp 30-42.

63 MS, FHK, Arbets- och löneavtal, F8F: 1, Arbets- och löneföreskrifter vid A.-B. Svenska Tobaksmonopolets fabriker och övriga arbetsplatser 1918.

64 MS, FHK, Arbets- och löneavtal, F8F: 1, Arbets- och löneföreskrifter vid A.-B. Svenska Tobaksmonopolets fabriker och övriga arbetsplatser 1919; MS, FHK, Arbets- och löneavtal, F8F: 1, Arbets- och löneföreskrifter vid A.-B. Svenska Tobaksmonopolets fabriker och övriga arbetsplatser 1926.

65 MS, FHK, Arbets- och löneavtal, F8F: 1, Arbets- och löneföreskrifter vid A.-B. Svenska Tobaksmonopolets fabriker och övriga arbetsplatser 1930.

66 Betänkande angående gift kvinnas förvärvsarbete m.m. Avgivet av Kvinnoarbetskommittén 1938, p 315.

Figure 5.4 Average hourly earnings for female preparation workers relative to female cigar workers (in percent), 1919-1934

75 80 85 90 95 100 105

1919 1921 1923 1925 1927 1929 1931 1933

Source: Annual reports of the Tobacco Monopoly 1919-1934.

related to swiftness than experience. Therefore, young workers were preferred to old ones, the management representative explained to the investigators.

Personnel turnover was regarded a positive phenomenon, which can be contrasted with the situation before mechanization, when employers complained over the mobility among cigar makers.⁶⁷

Another indication of deskilling was the decreasing wage gap between occupations previously thought of as skilled and unskilled, for example cigar makers and preparation workers. As shown in figure 5.4, the average hourly earnings of a female preparation worker was about 20 percent below that of a female cigar maker. Ten years later the equivalent difference was slightly above 2 percent and by 1934 the gap had been closed.⁶⁸ After that year, the company board no longer distinguished between preparation workers and cigar makers in its annual reports. Average wages were simply stated for cigar workers in general.

67 See Undersökning af tobaksindustrin i Sverige 1899, p 94.

68 This wage equalization was acknowledged and discussed in connection with rationalization by the board in the annual report of 1928. Aktiebolaget Svenska Tobaksmonopolets verksamhet år 1928:

Styrelsens förvaltningsberättelse.