Triangle Shirtwaist factory fire

[screamingflea]

Today is the 100th anniversary of a tragic and pivotal moment in America's labor history.

For those of you who don't know the story, a devastating fire (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triangle_Shirtwaist_Factory_fire) killed 146 people, most of them young ladies between the ages on 13 and 24, in a building whose exits were locked to prevent workers from sneaking out to take breaks. The public outrage fueled the labor and union movement in this country, prompted legislators to get tough on safety, and finally drove the sweatshop to extinction in the United States.

* bows head for a moment of silence *

[Tradd]

There's a recent episode of the PBS The American Experience series on this tragedy. You can watch it on the PBS website. Highly recommended. Very interesting. Puts it into the context of the women who worked in this factory having been on strike for better wages and conditions the year before the fire, I think. The show says the exits but one were locked to prevent theft, the owners thinking the workers would steal shirt waists and each girl had to have her bag gone through at the end of each shift.

[Zigzagman]

My, how times have changed!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=7Lg4gGk53iY

Peace

[screamingflea]

Zigzag, thanks for the perspective. Now not only are union labels hard to find in this country, but it's virtually impossible to find products made in America at all.

[ApatheticNoMore]

One of the reasons suffragettes actually wanted the right to vote was to have a say in workplace issues. Oh they don't tell you this, that the suffragist movement actually had a radical side, but it did. I mean really, do you think all that was just about casting votes for tweedledee or tweedledum? Nah, they saw woman's LIVES affected by workplace issues, therefore women should have a say.

Yes. now all the things such movements tried to prevent have been outsourced, horrendous working conditions, environment pollution etc..

[screamingflea]

Of course they were radical. One would have to be a radical to volunteer for the ordeal of force-feeding (http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/force_feeding_suffragettes.htm).

[Zigzagman]

Of course they were radical. One would have to be a radical to volunteer for the ordeal of force-feeding (http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/force_feeding_suffragettes.htm).

That article made me almost sick. I would recommend that everyone see "Iron Jawed Angels". Why and how women have tolerated our ignorant asses (Men) is sometimes beyond me. The church, the workplace, and yet they persevered - many do not realize the gender discrimination that has been so pervasive in almost all of the world.

Ladies, I salute you!

Peace

[Jemima]

Today is the 100th anniversary of a tragic and pivotal moment in America's labor history.

For those of you who don't know the story, a devastating fire (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triangle_Shirtwaist_Factory_fire) killed 146 people, most of them young ladies between the ages on 13 and 24, in a building whose exits were locked to prevent workers from sneaking out to take breaks. The public outrage fueled the labor and union movement in this country, prompted legislators to get tough on safety, and finally drove the sweatshop to extinction in the United States.

* bows head for a moment of silence *

Thank you for the post, Flea. My union is just beginning contract negotiations and from what I'm hearing from them, our government employer wants to take away just about everything. My fears have not so much to do with wage and benefit cuts, but with the increasing power of the employer in this lackluster economy. I can easily see tragedies like the Triangle fire happening again in a decade or two as employees who are desperate to keep their jobs tolerate unsafe working conditions and other abuses without protest.