Today marks the 100th anniversary of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, the deadliest industrial disaster in the history of New York City and one of the deadliest industrial accidents in the history of the United States.
This occasion has particular resonance in the present political landscape. Across this country, working men and women are under assault by the conservative agenda. We have all heard the reports from the states -- in Wisconsin, Ohio, and my home state of Michigan, the labor movement is under siege.
In the House Judiciary Committee, the Majority has introduced H.R. 10, the "Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny Act." The REINS Act would end federal rulemaking as we know it. House Republicans want to block even noncontroversial safety standards -- like crane and derrick construction regulations, which OSHA estimates will save 22 lives and prevent 175 injuries every year. The Majority offers this bill under the guise of "small government" and "business-friendly policy." It is as if they have learned nothing from the past.
The 146 individuals who died in the Triangle factory on March 25, 1911, represented a vibrant cross-section of the American experience. They were mostly women, mostly immigrants, some only teenagers, working hard hours in the garment district in the hopes of providing a better life for themselves and for their families.
When the fire broke out that afternoon, the stairwells were consumed by flames. The fire escape, which was never designed to support the weight of so many people and did not reach all the way to the street, collapsed. To prevent workers from stealing scraps of cloth, the owners had padlocked the back door. Fire engines reached the scene, but did not have ladders that reached the ninth floor. Many workers, faced with no escape from the blaze, leapt to their deaths on the city streets.
Tragedy soon turned to outrage. The company's owners, Max Blanck and Isaac Harris, were longtime antagonists of the labor movement. Two years before the fire, when garment workers picketed the factory, Blanck and Harris hired thugs to beat their seamstresses into submission. They rejected the garment workers' demand for sprinklers and unlocked exits in the building. And although they were indicted for manslaughter because of their roles in the fire, Blanck and Harris were later acquitted -- in large part because there were no workplace safety standards on the books under which to hold them accountable.
That soon changed. In the aftermath of the fire, union ranks swelled and lawmakers responded. New York passed laws that required workplaces to have sprinkler systems, open doors, and functioning fire escapes. Other states followed suit. Over time, under constant pressure from the labor movement, workplace safety became an important priority for the federal government.
One hundred years later, we are still saddened at the senseless loss of life in the Triangle fire. We are still galvanized by the call for workers' rights in its aftermath. But I am also struck by those who refuse to learn the lessons this tragedy can teach us.
In 1911, when New York changed its fire code to require minimum standards for worker safety, business owners claimed that the new regulations were needless, useless, and would wipe out industry in the state.
We hear these complaints today. We hear about "government overreach" and "excessive regulation" from oil companies, even as their rigs explode, from bankers who have gambled and lost with the national economy, and, yes, from factory owners and other big businesses who do not see the percentage in worker safety standards.
We hear, all too much these days, about how unions are a drain on our economy. That sort of accusation could not be more off base. For more than a century, the American labor movement has fought for working conditions that are safe, decent, and fair. They did so for all Americans. They did so while building the country. Unions aren't a drain on our economy -- they are the backbone of our economy.
And finally, in Washington, we hear from the Republican leadership how all regulations are bad regulations, as if government had no role to play in improving the lives of working Americans.
The REINS Act is offered to prevent "government overreach" and "stifling regulations" that prevent businesses from doing as they please. The majority ignores the sizeable benefit to our economy from federal regulation -- the Office of Management and Budget estimates the federal rules add somewhere between $122 billion and $656 billion to our economy every year. It also ignores the intangible but undeniable benefits that come when Americans can enjoy clean air, clean drinking water, safe work places for our families, and safe toys for our children.
Proposals like these remind me of Blanck and Harris, the owners of the Triangle factory, who two years after the fire were caught once again locking the doors to their factory. Blanck was fined $20. It seems he learned little from the tragedy.
One hundred years after the fire, workers still deserve a safe workplace, and government still has a role in helping our working men and women secure that safety. Those who ignore that lesson threaten to roll back a century of progress.
I hear that there is a wonderful documentary "I AM" that will turn people's hearts, if the publicity is to be believed. It's playing at the Landmark E Street. Please see it and report on it. I think it'll be right up your ... alley.
respectfully,
Bernique
http://iamthedoc.com/thefilm/
The Film | I AM The Documentary | Official Site
"I AM is an utterly engaging and entertaining non-fiction film that poses two practical and provocative questions: what’s wrong with our world, and what can we do to make it better? The filmmaker behind the inquiry is Tom Shadyac, one of Hollywood’s leading comedy practitioners and the creative force behind such blockbusters as “Ace Ventura,” “Liar Liar,” “The Nutty Professor,” and “Bruce Almighty.” However, in I AM, Shadyac steps in front of the camera to recount what happened to him after a cycling accident left him incapacitated, possibly for good. Though he ultimately recovered, he emerged with a new sense of purpose, determined to share his own awakening to his prior life of excess and greed, and to investigate how he as an individual, and we as a race, could improve the way we live and walk in the world..."
This is not to be confused with the movie "American I am", starring Travis Smiley, which, inexplicably, had its debut around the same time, not that there is anything wrong with that. Just unplanned confusion, I guess. hmmm.
o left and right
o democrats and republicans
o rich and poor
Even though there are federal and state agencies to protect workers, such agencies can fall victim to regulatory capture.
The issue of worker safety is a moral battle between good and evil. Greed is one of the deadly sins.
Here's a comparison of two CEOs:
http://www.torah.org/features/firstperson/ceo.html
A CEO Who Lives By What's Right - Torah.org
At Target, Wal-mart and other well-known retailers, we bought the clothes made at that factory, thus facilitating the loss of American jobs and the deaths of workers overseas. When are we going to boycott these imports?
Labor is a small percentage of the price you pay for clothing. Would you pay a few cents more for union goods made in safe factories? I would.
It is only when safe and fair working conditions are implemented all over the world that a "Middle Class" can really exist anywhere.
It was very similar to the Triangle Fire in that workers on the upper floors were struggling to get down. 26 or 29 (accounts vary) people lost their lives. They were making clothes for Gap, Target, and a few other well-known names.
Somewhere I also read that, if one adjusts for inflation, the Triangle sweatshop women actually made more than the Bangladesh workers. We've gone backwards.
http://www.democracynow.org/2006/1/4/forced_abortions_sweatshops_a_look_at
Forced Abortions & Sweatshops: A Look at Jack Abramoff's Ties to the South Pacific Island of Saipan & How Tom DeLay Became An Advocate for Sweatshop Factory Owners
"We speak with ABC News’ Brian Ross who exposed in 1998 the horrific labor conditions in the U.S. territory of Saipan. At the time, Jack Abramoff was Saipan’s hired gun on K Street and Tom DeLay was one of the island’s chief advocates on Capitol Hill. DeLay backed the sweatshop owners even though it was exposed that the factory was forcing women to have abortions and treated workers like indentured servants. [includes rush transcript]..."
[snip]
We turn now to Abramoff’s special relationship with the South Pacific island of Saipan and how it connects to his ties to House Majority Leader Tom DeLay. Saipan is an American territory in the South Pacific also known as the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. In the mid-1990s Abramoff was on the payroll of Saipan officials aiming to stop legislation that would crack down on sweat shop conditions, which run rampant on the island. In 1997, Abramoff arranged a lavish trip to the island of Saipan for Delay..."
There are no garment factories on Saipan now
One of the speakers mentions that, if the Triangle worker's wages were adjusted for inflation, current garment workers in Bangladesh make less. So labor is going "backwards".
Yes, but the global investor class sees it as progress...
http://www.epi.org/publications/entry/webfeatures_viewpoints_global_strat_labor/
A Global Strategy for Labor
"...All markets require rules and policies. Consequently, they are political institutions. Therefore, just as a global investor class implies a global working class, a global marketplace implies a global politics. Global politics in turn imply global political "parties," even though they are not formally organized as such...."
http://tinyurl.com/4kx5s5u
Start with agitating locallystarting a local, anonymously,
www.USUNcut.org
Next BIG action, April 15th. Get going.
At the end of the documentary, a man talks about the current push against regulations. The man is a descendent of someone who lost her life in the fire, if I recall.
"We forget the lessons of the Triangle Fire at our own peril. Right now there is much push against regulations by business. If people want to know what deregulated business will look like, all they need to do is to look at the bo.dies lying on the street outside of the Triangle Factory."
I also read a story of a Chinese factory that makes iPods for Apple. They had to put in mesh screens over the dormitory windows because young Chinese people were jumping to their de.aths because the working conditions were so harsh and unrelenting.
But some would rather have the bo.dies of young people lying crumpled in the street than businesses have to deal with "costly regulations" or those "job-cutting unions".
We have so much work to do; we've gone backwards in so many ways these last years.
Mainstream Americans do not have equal access to education. Making education more accessible by telling the stories in the plain language of the people and letting them gain more understanding of the intellectual and academic analysis is very much a public service.
As they were 100 years ago, people were fearful of organizing, fearful of not working as hard as they could because they would lose their jobs and they desperately needed their pay.
These were young girls, P.O'd, immigrant girls as young as 14.
And, yes, you are right: The right is soulless and does deprive the human psyche of self-worth. At least you got that right.
The owners of the Triangle Shirtwaist claimed they were worried about theft, but the employees got paid by the piece. Some who had access to a sewing machine at home would try to sneak out pieces so they could finish the work at home and then sneak the finished product back to work, therefore making more money.
I mean, let's think about it. These were young unsophisticated, usually uneducated women and girls. Do you really think they were conspiring to rip off the owners and steal enough materials to set up a rival factory?
A made-for-tv movie about this fire came out back during I think the 1970's or 80's.
It is interesting that no major film has ever been made, while there have been 3 movies about Robin Hood and a re-make of Hawaii Five-0.
Even though I don't get HBO, hopefully a new interest will be sparked.
http://video.pbs.org/video/1817898383
Triangle Fire | American Experience | PBS Video
Is this taught in today's history classes ?
Gee, why does that sound so familiar?
Excellent comment. f & f & tweeted.