Today in Labor History Mar 25, 146 workers are killed in a fire at New York’s Triangle Shirtwaist

[Omaha Steve]

March 25

Toronto printers strike for the 9-hour day in what is believed to be Canada’s first major strike - 1872

First “Poor People’s March” on Washington, in which jobless workers demanded creation of a public works program. Led by populist Jacob Coxey, the 500 to 1,000 unemployed protesters became known as “Coxey’s Army” (pictured above) - 1894

146 workers are killed in a fire at New York’s Triangle Shirtwaist Factory, a disaster that would launch a national movement for safer working conditions - 1911

And this:

March 25, 1911 - A fire broke out on the upper floors of the Triangle Shirtwaist factory in New York City. Within minutes, the blaze killed 147 young workers, most of them Jewish and Italian immigrant women. The workers had been locked in by their employer. The tragedy inspired a movement for workplace safety and to crack down on sweatshops. For more information on this tragedy and its aftermath, visit the Cornell University online exhibit, The Triangle Factory Fire, http://www.ilr.cornell.edu/Trianglefire/

An explosion at a coal mine in Centralia, Ill. kills 111 miners. Mineworkers President John L. Lewis calls a six day work stoppage by the nation’s 400,000 soft coal miners to demand safer working conditions - 1947

Labor history found here: http://www.unionist.com/today-in-labor-history & here: http://www.workdayminnesota.org/index.php?history_9_03_25_2010

[no_hypocrisy]

1. They hold a memorial service at the site every year at New York University.

They tell the story, offer prayers, and hang a wreath on the wall where it happened. I attended one ceremony nine years ago; it was sponsored by the Work Men's Circle.