ILGWU Apparel Job Training and Research Corporation Records

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.

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 AJT &RC 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."