Notes

1. I am grateful to Chris Huxley, Swasti Mitter and Sheila Rowbotham for their encouragement and helpful comments on earlier versions of this paper. I am especially indebted to the men and women from the union for their participation in this study. Their names have been fictionalized. Special thanks to the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union for their cooperation and to the owners of the factories who allowed this study to be undertaken. The research was made possible with seed money from the McMaster University Research Board, a postdoctoral fellowship and Canada Research Fellowship from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, held at York University, and by a grant from Labour Canada, from the Technology Impact Research Fund (TIRF). Of course, the final responsibility remains mine.

2 The ILGWU wanted to understand how technological innovation affected the working lives of its members. Grants from TIRF, under the federal government auspices of Labour Canada, offered the unique opportunity for academics to work with unions to develop labour-related research projects on new technology. The focus on new technology is part of a broader project that involves a book on industrial restructuring with specific reference to the garment industry. The book addresses a number of related themes including the implications of economic integration, gender and skill, systems of wage payment and the social policy implications of restructuring as it relates to health and safety issues.

3 Toronto Star, 26 November, 1966: p. 64.

4 See Seward (1990). Recent demographic trends indicate a decline in immigration from Europe, with new immigrants coming from Asia (including East Asia, South Asia and South East Asia), the Caribbean and Latin America (Simmons, 1990; Frideres, 1992).

5 The Globe and Mail, 25 November 1986: B22.

6 Financial Times of Canada, 9 December 1991: p. 12.

7 The Globe and Mail, 24 January 1991: B9.

8 The Globe and Mail,9 April 1992: B9.

9 The Globe and Mail, I March 1986 A10.

10 Report on Business Magazine, November 1991: pp. 70-80.

11 Winnipeg Free Press, 25 May 1985: p. 5.

12 Winnipeg Free Press, 26 January 1985: 3; 24 January 1985: pp. 1, 4.

13 The Globe and Mail, 25 May 1987: B5.

14 Apparel, September-October, 1987: p. 27.

15 Style, 15 April 1991: pp. 1,4.

16 Style, 21 January 1991: p. 3.

17 The Globe and Mail, 23 December 1991: B4; see also Sharpe, 1993.

18 The name of this factory has been fictionalized.

19 For a discussion of the distinction between 'multiskilling' and 'multitasking', especially in relation to the issue of skills development, see CAW-Canada Research Group on CAMI (1993).

20 Now Magazine, 2-8 December 1993: pp. 17-18.