Embedded Files
THE SOUTH RIVER CIGAR COMPANY STRIKE
June 23, 1915 - The South River Cigar Company was struck when 300 men and women, mostly Hungarian according to contemporary reports, walked out and demanded more pay. (Hungarians were the largest ethnic group in cigar factories in New Jersey, according to Patricia Cooper in her history of the trade, Once A Cigarmaker.)
The South River Cigar Co., (aka "South River Stripping Co." and "South River Stripping and Tobacco Co."), a subsidiary of the Hirschorn, Mack & Co. division of the United Cigar Manufacturers, opened in 1910, at first renting space in the Gordon Building and later the Star Theater Building before building the factory at the newly extended Water Street.
The new plant [BELOW RIGHT] was located directly across Herrmann Avenue from Herrmann, Aukam and surrounded by H-A company-owned housing [compare with 1897 map of Herrmann, Aukam & Co., before factory was built and Water Street had yet to be connected with Herrmann Avenue].
Police and "deputies" were called when the strikers demanded to be paid for work already done. The next morning about half of the work force reported to work (whom accounts say were mostly "Polish girls" who hadn't struck) when the strikers asked to return.
Upon entering the building the strikers attacked the non-striking operators, police were called and a half hour battled ensued. A deputy was badly cut and several women were "laid out cold by the clubs carried by the girls".
The strike ended after five days and the blame was put upon a fired foreman from the Perth Amboy plant of the same firm, who told the South River employees that Perth Amboy workers were receiving more money.
Perth Amboy workers had struck their plant 3 days before the South River strike in a failed attempt to re-instate a fired foreman (probably the same man).
This strike was one of 24 strikes by women cigar makers in New Jersey between 1901-17, according to the New Jersey Bureau of Statistics of Labor and Industries.
Besides the Perth Amboy facility which played a part in the South River strike, General also operated plants in Plainfield and Carteret over the years.
Workers at South River cigar factory also struck in 1923 and 1941 [CHRONOLOGICALLY BELOW].
South River Cigar Co. became a General Cigar Co. (successor to the United Cigar Mfg) facility, although still apparently going by the "South River" name in the 1918 Help Wanted ad above.
The General Cigar Co. had a number of cigar factories in New Jersey (6 out of a total of 72 operating in 1923 were in Middlesex County alone), including a large facility on Somerset Street in nearby county-seat, New Brunswick. Hundreds of female cigar workers there struck that factory along with other cigar company factories (Bayuk and Gans Bros.) in the summer of 1919. Another strike New Brunswick General Cigar Co. occurred in 1929, lasting from June 3 to August 19.
OTHER LOCAL STRIKES
LYLE CONDUIT STRIKES
April 2, 1906 - Hundreds of workers at Lyle Conduit Co. /National Clay Co. outside of town struck. On Wednesday, they forced the workers of Pyrogranite works to go out on strike as well.
On Thursday, the strikers, 300-500 strong, marched to the American Enameled Brick and Tile Co. on Whitehead Avenue (and just across the Raritan River Railroad tracks from Herrmann-Aukam) to attempt to get their employees to join the strike. American turned water hoses on the strikers, who were armed with revolvers and clubs. Over 100 deputies were sworn in to protect the brick yards. "The strikers are all foreigners," reported The New York Sun.
November, 1908 - Area wide strike of brick workers at nine yards results in National Guard called out to "protect" 6 plants in Perth Amboy. During the strike, Lyle's Great Eastern Clay Co. settled with the strikers in South River, agreeing to a raise to $1.10 (from 90¢) for ten hours work. P.A. strikers initially were demanding $1.50.
[BELOW] National Guard on duty in Perth Amboy during brickmakers' strike - Phila. Inquirer
Union button of the United Brick, Clay and Terra Cotta Workers' Alliance - AFL.
March, 1909 - In a short article on the Herrmann, Aukam & Co. strike, there is a mention that Lyle workers were going to strike on the morning of the second, "...but they decided to put it off for another month".
December 1909 - The Great Eastern Clay Co. negotiates an agreement with the Brick, Clay & Terra Cotta Workers' Alliance and the South River Brickmakers' Union No. 205, headed by William Fehrle, to avoid a wage reduction and a strike. It is agreed to reduce the "working force" instead.
First notable mention of an organized union and one apparently affiliated with an national union during a South River strike.
April 1909 - 50 SOUTH RIVER BRICK CO. employees strike for 6 days, winning a wage increase of "10 per cent. over the wage rates of 1907".
MINDLE & LUNEPP
February, 1910 - 7 (out of 11) stitchers at Mindle and Lunepp Embroidery's factory strike for 5¢ more over their current rate of 25¢/1000 stitches.
"There are so few of them that the strike does not amount to much, and other men are being secured to fill their places."
--- NEW BRUNSWICK HOME NEWS - 2/25/10
May 27, 1915 - 220 laborers at American Clay Products strike for a 2¢ raise (from 15½¢ to 17½¢ per hour). Company countered with an offer of 1½¢ more. Workers held out and company met their request.
June 1, 1915 - 200 American Enameled Brick and Tile Co. workers strike for 10¢ more a day. Plant shutdown by the 3rd. Company holds out, announces no striking workers will be rehired. Plant re-opens on the 8th with most of the striking workers reinstated with no wage increase.
SOUTH RIVER brick yards & SAYRE & FISCHER (Sayreville)
May, 1916 - An estimated over 500 workers struck the SR brickyards, which spread to the giant Sayre & Fischer yard across the South River in Sayreville.
1917 - During the final strike of the workers at Hermann, Aukam & Co. workers at both American Clay Products (270 workers) and the South River Brick Co. struck for higher wages in April.
MICHELIN TIRE PLANT (Milltown)
August, 1916 - An estimated 50 South River workers at the Michelin Tire Plant in Milltown struck the company. A crowd of supporters grew to 500 at a rally held in South River.
November, 1928 - Strikers at Michelin again hold meetings in South River (unknown location), organized by the Rubber Workers Union of New Jersey.
JULY, 1917 - 3 weeks after the "Strike Riot" at Herrmann, Aukam & Co. workers commuting to the munition plants in Sayreville protest the rise in prices of the Raritan River Railroad in the shadow of the Herrmann, Aukam plant.
GENERAL CIGAR STRIKE
April, 1923 - Workers walk out over a change in the size of the product which resulted in less pay. Single report has strikers and company disagreeing on the number of workers who struck and the size/cost of the new cigar. The company blamed the strike on "radicals in the organization (who) seized upon a change in the size of the cigar … as an opportune time for making trouble."
1941 - According to a brief mention by a local rep of the Cigar Makers Union, workers at the South River factory of General Cigar went on strike. The General Cigar Co. was the successor of the South River Cigar Co.
Page updated
Google Sites
Report abuse