TODAY IN WEST SEATTLE-AREA HISTORY – SEATTLE CIGAR MAKERS FORM A LOCAL UNION, APR 15, 1887
On April 15, 1887, seven Seattle cigar makers form Local 188 of the Cigar Makers International Union of America.
In 1906 the local’s 85 members earned an average $2.00 to $3.50 per eight-hour day. They worked a six-day week (48 hours). By 1908 membership increased to 100, 94 men and 6 women. This was 100 percent of the trade. By 1918 there were 75 males and 5 females.
The Union clearly grew from there, boasting more than thirty thousand workers by 1922.
Sources: [Washington] Bureau of Labor, Fifth Biennial Report of the Bureau of Labor Statistics and Factory Inspection 1905-1906 (Olympia: C.W. Gorham, Public Printer, 1906), 94; [Washington] Bureau of Labor, Sixth Biennial Report of the Bureau of Labor Statistics and Factory Inspection 1907-1908 (Olympia: C.W. Gorham, Public Printer, 1908), 115; [Washington] Bureau of Labor, Seventh Biennial Report of the Bureau of Labor Statistics and Factory Inspection 1909-1910 (Olympia: E.L. Boardman, Public Printer, 1910), 65.
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