Cutters are sometimes trained in schools organized for the purpose, though often they learn as apprentices, paying from $50 to $150 for the instruction. From 6 to 20 weeks is the time usually required to learn the trade.
Pressers work a few weeks on seams, and after about a year become responsible pressers on high-grade garments.
The only training necessary for a machine operator in factory work is instruction in power sewing-machine operating. Training for the majority of the processes is given in the shop, and the length of time required depends in a great measure upon the ability of the worker to learn.
The requirements for acceptable workers in the clothing industries may be summed up as follows: Ability to run a power sewing machine, general intelligence sufficient to understand simple directions, and health and strength to work full time for six days a week.
Conditions of Work
Overcrowding, overwork, and underfeeding are often evidenced by the pallor of the operatives; and the undue prevalence of tuberculosis, neurasthenia, and anemia among them clearly show that the constrained position, exposure to dust and fumes from leaky gas tubing, insufficient lighting facilities and ventilation found in many of the smaller shops are conditions yet to be remedied before the garment industries can receive an unqualified recommendation as suitable for a disabled man.
However, men in the clothing industry work under more favorable conditions than formerly. The “sweat shop” is a thing of the past. The efforts of joint boards of sanitary control in New York City have, by educating both employers and employees, done much toward mitigating the intolerable conditions which existed in the early days. Tenement-house regulations and State laws of inspection have proved beneficial and have abolished many evils of the old shop. Laws prohibiting isolated home work have forced the contractors to secure better outside shops. Home shops now must not be connected with living quarters, and consequently they are often found in the upper floors of warehouses or factories, roomy and well ventilated. Factories where the better grade of work is done have their own “inside shops” built for the purpose and therefore more satisfactory. The workers themselves are often to blame for the bad air in their workroom, because of their careless waste of gas from the pressing iron or their fear of open windows.
The shortening of the working day also signifies progress in the clothing industries, and the welfare of the worker is now given fair consideration in many instances. Some factories plan the routing of work with a view to relaxation of the worker, and some require operators to get materials from a near-by table, or to go to the supply room for such things as thread, buttons, and trimmings. Even these small practices give relief from the fatigue of sitting constantly at a machine.
Opportunities for the Disabled
Occupations in garment making are largely nonhazardous. Handling heavy rolls of material, climbing ladders to hang shrunken goods to dry, testing heating apparatus for pressing irons, managing the knives of cutting machines, are all accompanied by some danger, but accidents as serious may occur in the daily occupations of any home.