ILGWU Management Engineering Department Records, 1941-1982
Collection Number: 5780/118
Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation & Archives
Cornell University Library
DESCRIPTIVE SUMMARY
Title:
ILGWU Management Engineering Department Records, 1941-1982
Repository:
Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation & Archives
Collection Number:
5780/118
Abstract:
This collection consists of records of the Management-Engineering Department of the
International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union. Materials include files on clothing
and textile manufacturers.
Creator:
International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union
Quanitities:
1.5 cubic feet
Language:
Collection material in English
The International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union was once one of the largest labor
unions in the United States founded in 1900 by local union delegates representing
about 2,000 members in cities in the northeastern United States. It was one of the
first U.S. Unions to have a membership consisting of mostly females, and it played
a key role in the labor history of the 1920s and 1930s. The union is generally referred
to as the "ILGWU" or the "ILG". The ILGWU grew in geographical scope, membership size,
and 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. The ILGWU merged with the Amalgamated
Clothing and Textile Workers Union in 1995 to form the Union of Needle trades, Industrial
and Textile Employees (UNITE). UNITE merged with the Hotel Employees and Restaurant
Employees Union (HERE) in 2004 to create a new union known as UNITE HERE. The two
unions that formed UNITE in 1995 represented only 250,000 workers between them, down
from the ILGWU's peak membership of 450,000 in 1969.
Created in 1941, the Management Engineering Department was charged with assisting
in the improvement of manufacturing techniques and operating methods, as well as providing
information on "fair rate pieces," monitoring manufacturing techniques, and providing
trainings to workers on efficient operations. Improvements to techniques and methods
were made by first observing the ways that operations in the manufacturing of women's
garments were executed, and then making recommendations to create efficiencies. The
Management-Engineering Department collected information, produced these time and motion
studies, and used both to help determine piece rates and develop worker training.
William Gomberg, who had previous worked as a collective bargaining agent with the
ILGWU, served as the department's first director 1956. Gomberg eventually became a
professor at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School, thus his papers are
housed at the University of Pennsylvania's University Archives and Records Center:
http://www.archives.upenn.edu/faids/upt/upt50/gombergwm.html
The records of the Management Engineering Department range from its founding in 1941
to 1980. Included are reports on operations at in specific shops and industries, reports
to the General Executive Board about the department's activities, and related materials.
The department's records are not extensive, and do not provide particularly strong
documentation of the Management Engineering Department's work. Researchers interested
in more information about the Management Engineering Department and its activities
may consult reports to the ILGWU international conventions.
Access to the collections in the Kheel Center is restricted. Please contact a reference
archivist for access to these materials.
This collection must be used in keeping with the Kheel Center Information Sheet and
Procedures for Document Use.
INFORMATION FOR USERS
ILGWU Management Engineering Department Records #5780/118. Kheel Center for Labor-Management
Documentation and Archives, Cornell University Library.
Related Collections: 5780: ILGWU records
Names:
International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union. Management-Engineering Dept.
Subjects:
Women's clothing industry -- United States
Clothing workers--Labor unions--United States.
Clothing workers -- United States
Industrial relations -- United States
CONTAINER LIST
Container
|
Description
|
Date
|
|
Box 1 | Folder 1 |
Report to the Education Committee of the General Executive Board
|
1979 |
Box 1 | Folder 2 |
Convention
|
1980 |
Box 1 | Folder 3 |
NACLA Report
|
1979 |
Box 1 | Folder 4 |
Select Commission on Immigration and Refuge Policy
|
1980 |
Box 1 | Folder 5 |
Conditions in the Women's Garment Industry
|
1979-1980 |
Box 1 | Folder 6 |
Management Engineering Department
|
1979 |
Box 1 | Folder 7 |
Management Engineering Department
|
1980 |
Box 1 | Folder 8 |
Dressmakers Union - Local 22
|
1961 |
Box 1 | Folder 9 |
Training Program
|
1977 |
Box 1 | Folder 10 |
Wilbur Daniels: Memorandum
|
1978 |
Box 1 | Folder 11 |
TEECO Tangle Automated Systems, Inc.
|
1974 |
Box 1 | Folder 12 |
Industrial Engineering
|
1977 |
Box 1 | Folder 13 |
Job Satisfaction/Job Performance
|
1977 |
Box 1 | Folder 14 |
Exquisite Form
|
1969 |
Box 1 | Folder 15 |
Survey of Typical Equipment
|
1955 |
Scope and Contents
July 1, 1955
|
|||
Box 1 | Folder 16 |
Management Engineering Department
|
1963-1982 |
Box 1 | Folder 17 |
Management Engineering Department
|
1963-1980 |
Box 1 | Folder 18 |
Management Engineering Department
|
1963-1980 |
Box 1 | Folder 19 |
Management Engineering Department
|
1963-1980 |
Box 1 | Folder 20 |
National Commission on Productivity and Work Quality
|
1974-1975 |
Box 1 | Folder 21 |
Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union
|
1977 |
Scope and Contents
May 9, 1977
|
|||
Box 1 | Folder 22 |
Productivity and Incentives
|
1977-1978 |
Box 1 | Folder 23 |
Productivity and Incentives
|
1977 |
Box 2 | Folder 1 |
Management Engineering Department Report to General Executive Board; Activities of
the Department
|
1977 |
Box 2 | Folder 2 |
Report to General Executive Board; Activities of the Department
|
1969 |
Box 2 | Folder 3 |
Memorandum
|
1975 |
Box 2 | Folder 4 |
Management Engineering Department Report to General Executive Board; Activities of
the Department
|
1965 |
Box 2 | Folder 5 |
Belle Knitting Mills
|
1941 |
Box 2 | Folder 6 |
Report of the Management Engineering Department to the General Executive Board
|
1946 |
Box 2 | Folder 7 |
Report of Studies Taken at the Dutchess Manufacturing Company
|
1942 |
Box 2 | Folder 8 |
Daisy Sportswear
|
1942 |
Box 2 | Folder 9 |
Report on the Progress of the "Section-Work" System Experiment at the K.U. Dress and
Lillian Dress Companies in New York
|
1942 |
Box 2 | Folder 10 |
Study of Mary Muffet, Inc.
|
1941 |
Box 2 | Folder 11 |
Blossom Products Corp.
|
1942 |
Scope and Contents
March 9, 1942
|
|||
Box 2 | Folder 12 |
Preliminary Investigation of Methods of Production of Lady Youth Company
|
1941 |
Box 2 | Folder 13 |
Globe Underwear Corp.
|
1941 |
Box 2 | Folder 14 |
Belle Knitting Mills Report: Management Engineering Department
|
1941 |
Box 2 | Folder 15 |
Summary Report of Findings at Nardis Sporstwear, Inc.
|
1942 |
Box 2 | Folder 16 |
Preliminary Report; Management Engineering Department
|
1942 |
Box 2 | Folder 17 |
Preliminary Report on Appalachian Knitting Mills
|
1941 |
Box 2 | Folder 18 |
Study of Mode O' Day Corporation
|
1941 |
Box 2 | Folder 19 |
Report on Real Silk Hosiery Mills
|
1942 |
Scope and Contents
September 18, 1942
|
|||
Box 2 | Folder 20 |
Preliminary Study of Operations Performed in the Shoulder Pad Industry
|
1942 |
Box 2 | Folder 21 |
Report on Dress Department of Carson, Pierie, Scott and Company
|
1942 |
Scope and Contents
June 22, 1942
|
|||
Box 2 | Folder 22 |
Preliminary Report of Studies Made at Mayflower Dress Company for Peter Detlefsen
|
1942 |
Scope and Contents
July 14, 1942
|
|||
Box 2 | Folder 23 |
The Work-Time Distribution
|
1945 |
Box 2 | Folder 24 |
American Cyanamid Company
|
1958-1976 |
Box 2 | Folder 25 |
Relationship Between Unions and Engineers
|
1943 |