The chronicle of Eger Tobacco Factory

The cigar factory

thus it was that in this same year of 1910 a total of 23 factories were turning out cigars and cigarettes on land belonging to the Hungarian Crown. Though because of its calm it almost went unnoticed, still the Eger factory went from strength to strength. As the figures show, staff numbers at the factory quadrupled during this period and output increased eleven times. Certainly the increase in the number of workers has something to do with increased output, but it was also thanks to an improved output capacity brought about by increased technical awareness. Henrik Lózer directed the factory with great sympathy and understanding; thus it is no wonder that his superiors transferred him in 1910 to the Pécs factory which was still in the process of being set up. It is thanks to him that the bunch maker women were accorded equal rights with the overwrappers which certainly ironed out a lot of uneasiness and unrest. The workings of the factory adhered

to the codes of practice of manufacturing law set out in 1884, and although these may seem harsh when viewed with the eyes of today, they clearly defined the roles and the scope of both employers and workers. Children under the age of ten were not allowed to be put to work in the factory. If children between the ages of ten and twelve were employed, then their education also had to be taken care of. Children under fourteen could not work longer than an eight-hour day, and up to the age of sixteen a ten-hour working day was the maximum limit. The working day at the Eger factory was ten hours long in the summer, nine hours in the winter. At the beginning of the 1910s certain statutes came into being that made rulings favourable to working conditions generally. The maximum number of working hours in a day was limited, a system of paid leave, until then an unheard-of luxury, was introduced, as well as a state pension scheme.

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