On July 7, 1919, roughly 2,100 of Boston's 2,400 cigar makers walked off the job in protest of their employer's failure to meet their demand of a 13 7/11% raise. Three of Boston's largest cigar manufacturers chose to leave the city rather than meet the union's demands and a number of union members formed a cigar-making co-operative. By August 30, 1919, all of the remaining manufacturers had reached agreements with the union.