1945–1946 Charleston Cigar Factory strike
Labor dispute in South Carolina, US / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The 1945–1946 Charleston Cigar Factory strike was a labor strike involving workers at the Cigar Factory in Charleston, South Carolina, United States. The strike commenced on October 22, 1945, and ended on April 1 of the following year, with the strikers winning some concessions from the company.
1945–1946 Charleston Cigar Factory strike | |||
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Date | October 22, 1945 – April 1, 1946 (5 months, 1 week and 3 days) | ||
Location | Charleston, South Carolina, United States | ||
Caused by | Company refusing to issue backpay or institute pay raises; racial discrimination | ||
Goals |
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Methods | |||
Resulted in | Workers received backpay, a pay raise of 8 cents per hour, and agreements to ease the racial barriers to skilled positions | ||
Parties | |||
The strike took place at the Cigar Factory, a production facility owned by the American Tobacco Company (ATC). The company had been operating the plant since 1903 as a racially segregated workplace, with white and African Americans working in different positions and for different pay. During World War II, workers at the plant unionized under the Food, Tobacco, Agricultural, and Allied Workers (FTA) of the Congress of Industrial Organizations, becoming FTA-CIO Local 15. The union agreed to not conduct any strike action for the duration of the conflict, and in turn the company agreed to institute pay raises after the war was over. By that time, the factory was employing about 1,400 employees, a majority African American. However, after the war's end in September 1945, the company reneged on its agreement and refused to negotiate with the union. Additionally, the company was slow in issuing backpay to workers that they had earned during the war. This, coupled with the firing of an African American worker in a move viewed by many employees as racially charged, led to a series of sitdown strikes and walkouts. Finally, on October 22, workers at the Cigar Factory went on strike. They were joined by FTA workers at other ATC plants in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Trenton, New Jersey, who went on solidarity strikes with the Charleston workers, and the national union instituted a boycott against ATC products. In addition to demands regarding pay and protections against racial discrimination, the strikers also pushed for the Cigar Factory to become a closed shop.
While a majority of the people on strike were black women, maintaining solidarity along different racial lines was seen as crucial to winning the strike, and the local union began to hold integrated meetings, something they had not previously done. Additionally, the strikers were able to garner support from a wide array of sources in Charleston, including among African American activists and white progressives. This support proved essential for continuing the strike into the winter months. Despite a ruling by the National Labor Relations Board that mandated the company to issue backpay on November 8, the union decided to remain on strike until all of their demands were met. As a result, the strike continued until March of the following year when the company finally agreed to some concessions, including an 8 cent per hour raise and agreements to ease the racial barriers that barred many African Americans from higher-paying positions in the company. By this point, the number of strikers, which had been around 1,000 at the beginning of the strike, had diminished significantly, and the union quickly accepted the deal, with the strike ending on April 1.
The strike is noted by historians as one of the few examples of a united biracial coalition in the Southern United States at the time, with the Preservation Society of Charleston stating that "the Cigar Factory strike was revolutionary in its illustration of the power of a unified voice". However, this coalition would not be sustained in the following years, as anticommunist and segregationist sentiments eroded support for Local 15 among many of the white workers, who organized their own local union. By the 1960s, due to changes in the tobacco industry, the plant experienced massive layoffs. It was closed permanently in 1973. The strike is also notable as the place where the modern version of the gospel hymn and civil rights anthem "We Shall Overcome" was first performed.