Here's to the workers of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory this Labor Day

[undeterred]

I watched a show on the American Experience tonight about the fire at the Triangle factory in New York in 1911. I did not realize the struggle of the female workers there to get safe working conditions and to unionize that had been going on in the years before the fire.

The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in New York City on March 25, 1911, was the deadliest industrial disaster in the history of the city of New York and resulted in the fourth highest loss of life from an industrial accident in U.S. history. It was also the second deadliest disaster in New York City – after the burning of the General Slocum on June 15, 1904 – until the destruction of the World Trade Center 90 years later. The fire caused the deaths of 146 garment workers, who either died from the fire or jumped to their deaths. Most of the victims were recent Jewish and Italian immigrant women aged sixteen to twenty-three;the oldest victim was 48, the youngest were two fourteen-year-old girls. Many of the workers could not escape the burning building because the managers had locked the doors to the stairwells and exits. People jumped from the eighth, ninth, and tenth floors. The fire led to legislation requiring improved factory safety standards and helped spur the growth of the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union, which fought for better working conditions for sweatshop workers.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triangle_Shirtwaist_Factory_fire

100 years ago!

[rustydog]

1. And those conditions are what the GOP want to return to

It is because of that horrible disaster that we have enforced fire codes, inspections, regulations...You know those horrible unbearable regulations that keep workers safer and alive.

[ProfessionalLeftist]

5. Yep. You're exactly right. That is what the GOP wants. Corprats have factories now

in Bangladesh, where they don't have to be bothered with worker safety laws like they do in the U.S. - and in Bangladesh in recent years, another 'Triangle Factory Fire' happened - same situation. Many died the same way they did at Triangle.

The GOP and their corprat welfare queens want the U.S. to return to those days and they decry "too many regulations" as an excuse for no longer manufacturing anything here. After all corprat profit is more important than worker safety and human lives.

The minds of corprat sociopaths are ones that never change.

[Occulus]

13. Already there.

Wal-Mart locks their workers in after closing "for their own safety".

[senseandsensibility]

2. K, R, and thanks for posting.

The corporate media is doing its best to make sure the average person knows nothing about this or any labor history.

[GReedDiamond]

3. KnR...always keep in mind that the TeaParty/GOP...

...want to go back to those days.

[undeterred]

4. 14 hour days, child labor, being docked for mistakes

no bathroom breaks, keep on working even after you drive a sewing machine needle through your fingernail!

I don't know how anyone could do such tedious work without making mistakes for 12-14 hours a day 6 days straight. The women were subjected to physical violence by police when they went on strike, but they were successful. Even so, when the fire happened, the owners got themselves out to another building from the roof without first going to the 10th floor to unlock the door that would have let all their employees evacuate safely. They just saved themselves and didn't give a rats ass, and collected the insurance money.

The stories of women holding hands and jumping to their death are so reminiscent of 9.11.01

[demosincebirth]

6. Many in this generation do not know anythng about the benifits they enjoy today, and how

they came about. Union workers fought bitter battles and died for the benefits that we enjoy today

[pinboy3niner]

7. More images:

http://www.google.com/search?q=triangle+shirtwaist+sidewalk+memorial+images&hl=en&qscrl=1&nord=1&rlz=1T4GZAG_enUS431US431&biw=1600&bih=684&site=webhp&prmd=ivns&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=7ZVlTq7ZO8jkiALjru2cCg&sqi=2&ved=0CBoQsAQ

[AdHocSolver]

8. K&R. What happens when profits are more important than people's safety. nt

[Raksha]

9. I learned recently that I had a relative who died in the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire.

Her name was Diana Gerjuoy and she was a recent Jewish immigrant. She was only 18 years old.

[undeterred]

11. How sad.

Still, it gives you a connection to something important in labor history.

[girl_interrupted]

10. K&R!

[blindpig]

12. k&r

[Occulus]

14. The factory and the fire were recently given prominent place on the show "Warehouse 13".

In the series, two former Secret Service agents "snag, bag, and tag" various ordinary items which have become somehow imbued with strange, specific powers and abilities. Harriet Tubman's Thimble, for example, causes a person to see the wearer as someone they know and trust; Lewis Carrol's Mirror allows you to see a reflection with a life and movements independent of your own; the original disco ball from Studio 54 emanates a drug-induced, desire-filled haze (and plays "I Will Survive"), and so on.

For the Christmas episode, they used a tree ornament, hung by a little girl who had a wish. This ornament was made from a bullet which was present during the Christmas Truce of WW I. As soldiers sang carols to each other across the battlefield and mingled in the no man's land beyond the trenches, the bullet became endowed with the ability to make the user's hopes and dreams of a better world literally come to life.

In the most recent episode, aired one week before Labor Day, the Artifact in play was the final exit doorknob from the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire. According to the show, the doorknob will still seriously burn the person holding it to this very day. Worse, holding it long enough causes the person to burst into flames and turn to ash.

I only mention it here because it's a wonderful way to get people curious about the event. I'm sure there are plenty of people out there that went to the Google for "triangle shirtwaist" or "triangle shirtwaste" and found the history, and that's something we shouldn't ever forget.

[undeterred]

16. Before last night I had only heard about the fire itself

but the context of the struggle to unionize that had been going on just before it was new to me and cast it in a totally different light. They had already won some rights but they still were in a very unsafe unhealthy workplace, even by the standards of their time.

Its really an incredible story, with lots of incredible characters.

[undeterred]

17. That is very powerful.

On the American Experience show they showed how the families of the people who died had to come down and identify their loved ones from among the charred bodies. One man, whose wife was missing, simply could not tell which body was that of his own wife, even after viewing the bodies several times. Another man lost all 4 of his female family members in the fire. Some families/children became orphans or lost their only source of financial support... some of the immigrants were sending part of their meagre $2/week to Europe.

The firemen were collecting items found at the scene like shoes and hair ornaments also, for family to collect.

[Eyerish]

15. K&R

[Blue_Tires]

18. k+r