[2] The CATU represented workers employed in the manufacture of clothing and manchester goods, including pressers, cutters and machinists.
This created an ongoing tension within the CATU between the need to represent the whole of the workforce within the industry, and the greater level of organisation and distinction within some male-dominated trade occupations.
[3] Maria May Brodney was an active member of what was then called the Federated Clothing Trades' Union from 1915.
[4] Anna Booth joined the union as a researcher in 1977 and in 1981 she played a role in establishing an afternoon break for Australian clothing workers.
[7] During the 1970s and 80s the removal of tariff protections for manufactured goods in Australia, automation of production processes, and an increase in the availability of cheap imports from Asia greatly reduced the size of the workforce in the Australian clothing industry.