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Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire 1911 New York City Reenactment ILGWU
>> YOUR LINK HERE: ___ http://youtube.com/watch?v=sNXXxj9JAZM
March 25, 1911 is the date of the infamous Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire, which took the lives of 146 workers, mostly young immigrant women, and galvanized a movement for social justice. In concert with organizations and individuals across the country, the Remember the Triangle Fire Coalition is spearheading commemorative events -- activism, education, arts -- and Workers United, SEIU will host the central commemoration ceremony on March 25 at the site of the original fire. For details, go to http://rememberthetrianglefire.org/ . This clip is from the 1950 film, With These Hands (45 mins) from the International Ladies' Garment Workers Union (ILGWU) and used here with permission. The film, essentially a documentary, extols the many advantages to the members of the ILGWU through the eyes of a retiring cloak operator who joined the union in 1910. This veteran unionist remembers the sweatshops of that long-ago day, the bitter strike for recognition in 1909-1910, which became known as the Uprising of the 20,000, and the terrible Triangle Waist Company fire, in which 146 women, locked in their factory were killed - this was actually a modern factory that was fire proof. The owners chose NOT to hook up sprinklers and to LOCK the doors, which was why the workers died unnecessarily. He remembers that the consequence of this fire was a great accretion in the union's membership. He then recalls the benefits which he and others as unionists have enjoyed—better working conditions, the union's health and medical plan, its facilities for cultural development, its summer camp at Unity House and finally the comfort and security provided by the union's pension plan. There are two excellent books on this historic event -- The Triangle Fire by Leon Stein first published by Cornell University Press in 1962 and just re-released for the centennial as well as Triangle: The Fire that Changed America by David Von Drehle, published in 2003 by Grove Press, New York. Background - Near closing time on March 25, 1911, a fire broke out at the Triangle Waist Factory in New York City. Within 18 minutes, 146 young immigrant workers, mostly women were dead. The Triangle Fire is one of the worst disasters since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. The tragedy still dwells in the collective memory of the nation and of the international labor movement and its victims are still celebrated as martyrs at the hands of industrial greed. This incident has had great significance to this day because it highlights the inhumane working conditions to which industrial workers can be subjected. The tragedy still dwells in the collective memory of the nation and of the international labor movement. The victims of the tragedy are still celebrated as martyrs at the hands of industrial greed. Within a month of the fire the governor of New York State appointed the Factory Investigating Commission. For five years, this commission conducted a series of statewide hearings that resulted in the passage of important factory safety legislation. Frances Perkins, later to become Secretary of Labor under President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, witnessed the fire, an event that influenced her decision to become a lifelong advocate for workers. Perkins assisted in the factory investigation from her position as executive secretary of the New York Committee on Safety. For much more information about this tragedy link to the website: http://www.ilr.cornell.edu/trianglefire . This powerful web exhibit presents original documents and secondary sources on the Triangle Fire, held by the Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation and Archives at Cornell University's School of Industrial and Labor Relations. The bulk of the primary sources were drawn from the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union Archives, which, along with the records of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America, form the basis for an archive that reside at Cornell. Workers United, SEIU is a union of 150,000 workers in the US and Canada who work in the laundry, food service, hospitality, gaming, apparel, textile, manufacturing and distribution industries. Workers United is a new union with a 100-year heritage, and includes members from the former ILGWU.
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