The current conditions of home workers in the garment industry in Toronto, Canada, were examined through in-depth telephone interviews with 30 Chinese-speaking immigrant women who were employed as home workers in 1999. The paper dicusses the formal training and informal learning experiences of immigrant woman who are garment workers. A comparison of the results of the 1999 survey with those of similar surveys conducted in 1991 and 1993 revealed that the wages of sewing machine operators remained at the levels of the 1980s. Many subcontractors were circumventing the Employment Standards Act's provisions protecting home workers. Instead of receiving wage increases as they became more experienced, many home workers were actually "punished" for getting skilled. Most women were paid by check every 2 weeks and reported few problems getting paid. Although many women preferred home work because it gave them more flexibility and a chance to combine paid work with child care, many others expressed feeling internal pressures from having to work all the time and meet the multiple demands of household, family, and employment. The following were among common problems reported by the women: (1) not learning the piece rate until garments were completed; (2) no vacation pay despite the legislative provisions calling for paid vacations; and (3) no avenues of compensation for work-related health problems (repetitive strain syndrome, back pain). Education of the public and policymakers and broad-based action on the part of homeworkers and the government are needed. (Contains 19 endnotes) (MN)