Occupations and division of labour

Table 5.1 Index of output per worker in the Swedish tobacco industry, 1919-1941 (1919-1920 = 100)

Years Cigars Cigarettes Rolling tobacco

Chewing tobacco

Snuff

1919-1920 100 100 100 100 100

1929-1931 194 183 146 88 112

1939-1941 235 357 145 85 115

Note: ‘Cigars’ include cigar-cigarettes. Output measured in tons per worker.

Source: af Trolle 1965, p 365.

the 1920s, as shown in table 5.1.⁴⁴ Thereafter, the productivity growth in cigar production slowed down, whereas it continued at a rapid pace in cigarette production.⁴⁵

Table 5.2 Occupational composition of the workforce at Malmö Cigar Factory on 5 April 1921 (in percent)

Type of work Men Women All workers

Preparation work 0 26 20

Cigar work 65 18 28

Cigar-cigarette work 3 26 21

Cigarette work 0 3 3

Machine work 0 2 2

Packaging 1 8 6

Boxes & storage 0 4 3

Other work 5 3 3

Day labour 17 9 11

Supervision 9 1 3

Total 100 100 100

Note: For more information on job titles and classification, see appendix 2.4.

Source: MS, FHK, Matriklar över slutade arbetare, D4A: 1-8.

tobacco leaves; a work known as stemming or stripping (stripning). All the steps described can be termed preparation work and were characterized by a pronounced division of labour and was mainly considered female work. Before the layoffs in April 1921 there were no male preparation workers at Malmö Cigar Factory, as shown in table 5.2.

After preparation, the actual manufacturing process began. A cigar has three elements: the filler, the binder and the wrapper. The filler is the innermost tobacco consisting of smaller parts of leaves, and is the body of the cigar. The binder is a middle wrapping of a whole leaf which served the purpose of holding together the filler. Finally, the wrapper – a whole leaf segment of fine quality – cover the cigar. To arrive at this product, the worker either collected filler in his hand, placed it in a binder and rolled it back and forth on a board (until the cigar got the right shape), or used a wooden mould. The half finished cigar was called a bunch and could either be further pressed and shaped by hand or be placed in a mould, before being covered by the wrapper. The wrapper, cut into a long strip with the help of a thin curved knife, was wound around the bunch so that it covered the bunch but, at the same time allowed some air to pass. Thereafter the

tip of the cigar was turned and shaped between the fingers and affixed with a binding agent. The finished product was then cut into appropriate length.⁴⁷

The steps involved in cigar-making could be performed by the same person – a cigar maker – or divided between a buncher (vickelmakare) and a roller (överrullare).⁴⁸ There were also distinctions between hand work (handarbete), semi-hand work (halvhandarbete) and mould work (formarbete).⁴⁹ Hand work was when no moulds were use. In semi-hand work, the worker shaped the bunch by hand, but pressed it in a mould. Mould work was when moulds were used in all steps. Both men and women were employed in cigar making, but men more often worked with finer brands and seldom were bunchers or mould workers.

After being shaped, the cigars were sorted according to quality, packed into boxes and placed on frames in a drying room by a special occupational group – packers.⁵⁰ The boxes were assembled by box makers (lådspikare) and provided with labels by gluers (klistrare). Almost all packers, box makers and gluers were women in the period of investigation.

A cigar-cigarette, also known as a cigarillo or cigarito, is a smaller variant of a cigar, manufactured in basically the same way, although it was considered less qualified work. Cigar-cigarettes were almost exclusively made by women.

It is no exaggeration to say that the introduction of machines revolutionized work in cigar factories. The new cigar-machines required three operators, typically women, and could, if fed with prepared raw tobacco, do both bunch making and rolling. The making of cigar-cigarettes required two separate machines, one for making bunches and one for rolling. In between these steps, the product was placed in wooden moulds and stored for about a day. These manual tasks were eliminated in the late part of the 1920s, when Formator introduced a device that reduced the time needed for pressing.⁵¹

Important for the workers was that they had to adapt to the pace set by the machines and their colleagues. Previously, work was to a great degree done individually and workers could decide their own pace and, to a certain degree, come and go as they wished. After mechanization, work was done in small teams around a machine. Working-hours became more strictly regulated and the management increased its efforts to keep track of sick leaves and other forms of

47 Undersökning af tobaksindustrin i Sverige 1899, p 63.

48 Undersökning af tobaksindustrin i Sverige 1899, p 64.

49 Petersson 1999, p 24.

50 This group was most often called sorterare in the Swedish tobacco industry.

51 af Trolle 1965, p 39.

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