Cigar Makers International Union

CIGAR MAKERS INTERNATIONAL UNION -  The Journeymen Cigar Makers' International Union of America (CMIU) was a labor union established in 1864 that represented workers in the cigar industry.  The CMIU was part of the American Federation of Labor from 1887 until its merger in 1974.

In 1863 came the first effort to establish a national union of cigar makers, bringing delegates from New York, Philadelphia, Newark, Cleveland, New Haven, Boston, Detroit, and elsewhere to a preliminary convention in Philadelphia.   This gathering decided to move forward with the establishment of a national union and called a foundation convention for the group for June 21, 1864, in New York City.

The union formed at this New York meeting was initially known as the National Union of Cigar Makers of America, before changing its name to the Journeymen Cigar Makers' International Union (CMIU) in 1867.

About one-half of all cigar workers were represented by the CMIU in 1916, when its membership peaked at 53,000 members.  The CMIU's membership dropped steadily as mechanization and unskilled cigar workers (known as "bunch breakers") replaced skilled cigar makers after World War I, and as cigarettes grew in popularity.   Exacerbating these trends was a move of cigar production to countries of the Caribbean and Central America.   All these factors led to the CMIU merging into the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union in 1974.