CIGARMAKERS' LOCAL NO. 88

CIGARMAKERS' LOCAL NO. 88. On January 3, 1886 the members of the Cigarmakers Union No. 88 made the following appeal:

      We...appeal to you al all true friends of labor...to call
      for and see that the union label is affixed to all
      packages of cigars...By buying these little blue label
      cigars you will help skilled labor compete with the
      prison labor, the leperous (sp) Coolie and small-
      poxed tenement labor... (1)

In February, 1877, in what was happening nationally, the Dubuque cigarmakers who belonged to the International Cigarmakers' Union were expelled from the KNIGHTS OF LABOR. (2) They organized the Cigarmakers' Local 88 in 1882. (3)

The local union members were active in union activity beyond their own interests. In July, 1888 at the Knights of Labor Hall on the corner of Main and 7th STREETS, Claus Anders of the Cigarmakers' Union was elected one of the vice presidents of the DUBUQUE TRADES AND LABOR CONGRESS, a city-wide labor organization. (4) In 1895 when the State Federation of Labor held its third annual convention, the Dubuque Trades and Labor Congress was represented by a delegate of the Knights of Labor and Leonard Schuster of the Cigarmakers' Union. (5) In 1896 he attended the International Cigarmakers' Union meeting in Detroit. Schuster was one of two delegates to the state meeting of the Iowa Federation meeting in 1899. (6)

The 1937 Dubuque Consurvey Directory listed the Labor Temple.

The 1939 and 1941 Dubuque City Directory listed 236 W. 9th.

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Source:

1. "The Chinese Must Go," The Dubuque Herald, January 3, 1886, p. 8

2. "Quit the K. of L." The Dubuque Daily Herald, February 8, 1887, p. 1

3. "Labor in Session," The Dubuque Herald, May 22, 1895, p. 8

4. "United Labor," The Dubuque Daily Herald, July 24, 1888, p. 4

5. "Labor in Session..."

6. "Delegates Leave," The Dubuque Herald, May 14, 1899, p. 9