ILGWU Training Institute Evaluation Forms, 1952-1965
Collection Number: 5780/184

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.

The ILGWU Training Institute was established in 1950, under the direction of Arthur A. Elder. The Training Institute was a competitive program that offered successful applicants one year of intensive training in labor education and leadership. Participants attended lectures by ILGWU officers and staff and seminars on topics relevant to the work of the union. Graduates of the program, some of whom had been working with the ILGWU in some capacity before attending the ILGWU Training Institute, were then placed in positions within the union, such as organizer or business agent.

While graduates were placed in these staff positions, one of the ideas behind the formation of the training institute was to prepare the next generation of the ILGWU's leadership. Indeed, among the first graduates of the training institute was Jay Mazur, who would serve as the ILGWU's final president from 1986 to 1995. After graduating more than 300 individuals, the ILGWU Training Institute was suspended in 1961. It was resumed in March 1963, but instead of a year-long program, trainees participated in four-week courses.

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ILGWU Training Institute Evaluation Forms #5780/184. Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation and Archives, Cornell University Library.

Related Collections: 5780/002: ILGWU David Dubinsky Correspondence 5780/052: ILGWU Gus Tyler Papers 5780/086: ILGWU Education Department, Jasper Peyton Papers