Guide to the ILGWU. Apparel Job Training and Research Corporation records

Founded in 1900 by local union delegates representing about 2,000 members in cities in the northeastern United States, the ILGWU grew in geographical scope, membership size, political influence to become one of the most powerful forces in American organized labor by mid-century. Representing workers in the women's garment industry, the ILGWU worked to improve working and living conditions of its members through collective bargaining agreements, training programs, health care facilities, cooperative housing, educational opportunities, and other efforts. In 1995, the ILGWU merged with the Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union (ACTWU) to form the Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees (UNITE).

Under contract granted by the United States Department of Labor in April 1979, the Apparel Job Training and Research Corporation was a non-profit organization, directed by a board composed of labor and management representatives, that provided training for 1500 sewing machine operators in the garment industry in the United States. The training program operated under the provisions of Title III of the Comprehensive Employment and Training Act.

Employers engaged in women’s apparel manufacturing, with requisite staffing, records of work retention, and wages and benefits for workers, were eligible to apply to participate in the program. If accepted, the employer was then required to agree to pay at least $3.40 per hour, and the Apparel Job Training and Research Corporation would pay $1.70 per hour per trainee. The Apparel Job Training and Research Corporation maintained a staff of Project Coordinators to “help the employers locate trainees, help fill out the necessary forms if requested, and verify the requests for reimbursement made by the employers.”

Contains application files from shops and workers therein to participate in the Apparel Job Training and Research Corporation's training program, financial records, and reports.

Application files contain documentation from the beginning of a shops enrollment in the training program to the trainees' notice of the end of the program, though not every company file is complete. Applications for certification with the AJTRC include basic data about the company (whether a contractor or manufacturer), including information on the types of garments produced, number of operators, number of those operators receiving W2 forms and fringe benefits, existing training resources, and anticipated need for trainees.

Companies accepted into the program entered into an agreement with the AJTRC for on-the-job-training. These agreements detailed the number and type of positions (piecework or timework, entry-level or upgrading), the kind of training (sewing machine operation, pressing, etc.), dates and duration of the training program, the amount of payment to the firm from the AJTRC, and other relevant information.

Also included in applications on behalf of individuals who sought to enroll in the training program, and related correspondence. These individual applications provide detailed profiles about workers, including name, age, address, information on education, family, veteran, income, and labor force status, race and ethnicity, disability, and criminal offences, as well as whether the applicant was a displaced homemaker, was a migrant or seasonal farm worker, or received public assistance.

Monthly invoices, sent from the firm to the AJTRC, contain the names of program participants (enrollees and trainers), hours worked, and earnings. In some instances, "Project Coordinator checklists" accompany invoices and indicate whether the firms were adhering to the conditions of their agreement with the AJTRC. Reports address conditions in the apparel industry, and document the work of the Apparel Job Training and Research Corporation's Project Coordinators.