The manual was produced at a time when ESL classes in the workplace were identified as a way to bridge gaps in communication between immigrant workers and their employers. With the support of the Toronto Board of Education and community agencies, the Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers’ Union began an ESL pilot project in 1978 at Tip Top Tailors. Shortly after, a governing body was formed called The English at the Workplace Task Force which received funding in 1979 to develop this program workbook. In 1980, the task force was dissolved and the program became Working Language Skills under the Adult Basic Language Training Unit of Humber College’s Centre for Labour Studies in Toronto.