4. The company and workers
4.5 A union led by men
many of the welfare programmes aimed to facilitate life for this group.
Childcare could bring about:
[…] more peaceful surroundings conducive to work and [give married women]
the ability to focus all their attention to the work, which of course is of greatest importance, particularly within a mechanized production system as is now the case in the tobacco industry.50
Practical courses with the purpose of making housework more rational were also intended to help married women increase their effort in the factories. In addition to facilitating the workers’ daily lives, the company’s educational programmes had the aim of bringing together and improving cooperation between white-collars and blue-white-collars.
Figure 4.1 Union density (in percent) in the Swedish tobacco industry, 1899-1938
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140
1899 1903 1907 1911 1915 1919 1923 1927 1931 1935
Note: Union density has been calculated by dividing the total number of members reported to LO by the average number of workers according to the official industrial statistics. The fact that the union density exceeded 100 percent from the late 1920s onwards suggests that some redundant and retired tobacco workers continued to be union members.
Source: Sifferuppgifter och grafiska framställningar över Landsorganisationen och de svenska fackförbunden 1888-1912; Sifferuppgifter och grafiska framställningar över Landsorganisationens och förbundens verksamhet åren 1913-1930; Sifferuppgifter över Landsorganisationens och förbundens verksamhet 1931-1940; Fabriker och handtverk 1900-1912; Industri 1913-1939.
In the years preceding the General Strike of 1909, the union density in the tobacco industry had approached 50 percent, as seen in figure 4.1. The conflict was detrimental to the workers in the short-run as the member base and funds were eroded.54 The Tobacco Workers’ Union was not as seriously affected by the defeat as other unions, but the recovery in the following years was hampered by the uncertainty associated with nationalization. At the turn of the year 1914-1915, the industry was in a difficult position and many tobacco workers left the union because of unemployment. The decline was greater than after the General Strike; during 1915 the number of members decreased by more than a third (from 2,334 to 1,519) and it was described as “[a] year of affliction […]” in the
54 Lindbom & Kuhm 1940, p 176.
union chronicle.55 At the same time the board of the union was almost completely changed, and the rebuilding of the organization could start as conditions in the industry became more stable. The efforts of the new leaders were successful and within a couple of years the Tobacco Workers’ Union had more members than ever before. By 1920 the union density had exceeded 90 percent, which was almost three times higher than the national average for blue-collars at the time.56 During the following year union density decreased by 10 percentage points, which probably reflects the income losses, due to hours-reductions and transfers, experienced by many tobacco workers. Thereafter, the union regained its numerical strength and it even seems like many redundant and retired workers continued to pay their membership fees. In economic terms the Tobacco Workers’ Union also gained strength over time. From 1920 to 1930 the organization’s capital stock per member more than tripled.57
As an industrial union, several occupations were united in the organization, the most important group being the cigar workers, who had been the originators of the union and outnumbered all other groups. There was some mistrust among other occupational groups about the dominance of cigar workers and it was decided at the congress of 1923 that workers in the other branches and storage workers should have at least one board representative each.58 The geographical composition of the union board was also discussed at the same congress.59 Here it should be noted that much of the tobacco industry was concentrated in Stockholm, Göteborg and Malmö. Thus, most of the tobacco workers shared the experience of living in urban areas, but since the executive committee met several times a month it was practically impossible for members outside Stockholm to attend meetings. The congress therefore decided that all the members of the executive committee should reside in the capital. Malmö and Gävle were guaranteed at least one representative each on the board. This concentration of power to Stockholm would, as will be shown, give rise to some internal tensions within the organization. Politics was another potential source of internal strife. Many Swedish trade unions were plagued by conflicts between
55 Swedish: ”[e]tt hemsökelsens år […]”. Lindbom & Kuhm 1940, p 233.
56 Lundh 2002, p 101.
57 The Tobacco Worker’s Union had a quite solid economy in comparison with other unions.
Compared with the average for the LO unions in 1930 the Tobacco Worker’s capital stock per member was about 65 percent higher. Sifferuppgifter och grafiska framställningar över Landsorganisationens och förbundets verksamhet åren 1913-1930 1932.
58 Lindbom & Kuhm 1940, p 263.
59 Lindbom & Kuhm 1940, p 263.
radicals and reformists. Some syndicalist tendencies had also been seen among the tobacco workers in connection with the General Strike but were not prominent in the period investigated in this study.60 A more fundamental dividing line was based on gender.
Originally, tobacco production was considered as a male domain but the composition of the workforce changed considerably over the course of the nineteenth century.61 Around 1900, women constituted 60 percent of the workforce and their share continued to increase. The presence of women in the industry became so strong that they could not be ignored or directly opposed by the early male trade unionists. Contrary to some other early unions, the Tobacco Workers’ Union allowed both men and women to be members.62 At the constituting congress of this organization, the representatives supported, without reservation, a statement that the union, together with its sister organizations in the other Nordic countries, should strive for equal wages for men and women.63
In 1915, the gender composition of the members of the union reflected the gender composition of the workforce fairly well.64 Historian Kristina Rossland, referring to the period before nationalization, has argued that women made a comparably good showing in the union.65 However, when it came to influence, men dominated the organization. It is hard to disregard the fact that female tobacco workers were strongly underrepresented, or not represented at all, among union leaders. Although women were in the majority among the rank-and-file, it was men who were in charge of the union and represented it in negotiations with the employer.66 As seen in table 4.1, there was only one female representative on the union board and none on the executive committee until 1933.67 In the same period, more than 80 percent of the members in the union were women. However, women made some advances at the congress of 1933, when their number of representatives increased from one to three, of which one got a position in the executive committee.
60 Lindbom & Kuhm 1940, p 184.
61 Undersökning af tobaksindustrin i Sverige 1899, p 57; Lindbom & Kuhm 1940, p 38; Rossland 1995, p 79.
62 Lindbom & Kuhm 1940, pp 38-39, 46.
63 Lindbom & Kuhm 1940, p 68.
64 See table in Lindbom & Kuhm 1940, p 234.
65 Rossland 1995, p 86.
66 The underrepresentation of women in the LO-unions is discussed by Qvist 1974, pp 61, 70.
67 Worth noting is also that none of the female board representatives held their positions for more than one congress period until 1933.
Table 4.1 Female representation in the union leadership (absolute numbers)
Year Board members Women on the board
Executive committee members
Women on the executive
committee
1906 6 0 - -
1913 7 1 - -
1918 10 1 5 0
1923 13 1 7 0
1928 13 1 6 0
1933 14 3 6 1
1938 14 3 6 1
Note: The board was renamed ‘representative assembly’ in 1933.
Source: Lindbom & Kuhm 1940, pp 172, 187, 246, 264, 275, 288, 292.