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Essay On The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire Of 1911

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The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire was one of the deadliest industrial disasters in United States history, killing 146 garment workers on March 25, 1911. The tragedy exposed the harsh conditions of many sweatshops at the time and galvanized support for labor rights and worker safety legislation. This essay will evaluate the causes and consequences of the fire, and discuss the significant influence it had on the labor movement.

The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire of 1911 was a devastating event that had a lasting impact on the labor movement and legislation intended to protect the rights of workers. According to AF McEvoy in Law & Social Inquiry, the fire was a "turning point in the history of labor reform" as it inspired public outrage …show more content…

According to AF McEvoy, the fire was “the most dramatic example of industrial disaster in the annals of American labor history” (McEvoy, 1995). This tragedy sparked outrage among the public and drove a movement to improve workplace safety. As a result, the Factory Investigating Commission was established, which led to the passage of numerous labor laws that aimed to protect the rights of workers. These laws established standards for working hours, wages, and safety measures, and provided workers with the right to organize into unions. In addition, the fire also had a lasting impact on the insurance industry. Companies began to recognize the need for employers’ liability insurance to cover the costs of workplace accidents (McEvoy, 1995). As a result, new policies were introduced to protect both employers and employees in the event of an injury. The lasting impact of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire is clear; it led to the establishment of laws that protect workers and the introduction of insurance policies that provide compensation for workplace …show more content…

According to AF McEvoy in his article “Law & Social Inquiry” (1995), the tragedy served as a catalyst for a shift in public opinion which eventually led to the implementation of new labor laws. Before the fire, workers had very few legal protections and faced dangerous working conditions, with no real recourse for taking action when their rights were violated. However, the scale of the tragedy and the widespread media coverage it received generated widespread outrage, prompting the New York State Legislature to pass the first labor laws to protect workers’ rights. These laws, including the New York State Factory Investigating Commission, provided workers with a legal framework to protect their rights, and also established the concept of labor relations in the public sphere. The fire also prompted the growth of labor unions, which began to advocate for better working conditions and higher wages. This was a major shift in the U.S., as labor rights had been largely ignored before the fire. The legacy of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire continues to this day, and its impact on labor rights in the U.S. is

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Most of the people who were working in the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory were on a strike before the fire for working rights and safety precautions. If the owners of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory followed the safety precautions the strike was proposing, the fire could have been prevented, and would have saved many lives. According to source 5, the doors were locked, long wooden tables became obstacles, and boxes crowded the exit. All of that could have easily been prevented. Also, higher class people were also involved in the strike which made it bigger and more popular to people.

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After the tragedy of the fire there was public outcry for reforms that would help to prevent this kind of travesty from happening again. Fallowing after the fire building codes were more strictly checked and maintained, employees were not allowed to lock their workers inside of the factories, and child labor laws would also eventually be established through the tragedy of the fire and other cases of yellow journalism. Overall, the late 1800s and the early 1900s was a time that saw many different social reforms and journalistic endeavors to help those less fortunate, but it was also a time plagued by poverty and misfortune for the working

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Frances Perkins, a survivor from the Shirtwaist Factory Fire quotes “Moved by this sense of stricken guilt, we banded ourselves together to find a way by law to prevent this kind of disaster.” Frances Perkins became secretary of Labor under President Franklin D. Roosevelt, and this quote said by Perkins “something must be done. We’ve got to turn this into some kind of victory, some kind of constructive action,” helped new workplace safety standards into law in the state of New York. The benefits that I would like the audience to see is how workplace safety is important by learning about the history of regulation, OSHA, and workers compensation.

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One of the main reasons the fire took such a psychological toll on the New Yorkers was because of the workers jumping to there deaths. One witness even remarked the event saying quote 'I know a new sound a terrible sound the sound of a body hitting the pavement". The inferno was also not an uncommon occurrence the triangle shirt was burned before the tragedy to collect insurance money. Knowing this information, many Jewish and women workers went on strike to secure improved working conditions. There strike in fact proved successful with the New York state legislature creating the Factory Investigating Commission.

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The inferno then spread across the building within few minutes, causing a terrifying madness among the workers and eyewitnesses. The fire spread faster owing to the nature of the business that dealt with textiles. The clothing burn very fiercely and as such, caused the speedy spread of the fire within the building. As the fire was razing down everything on its path, many of the workers were caught therein, losing their lives. Moreover, many of the exit doors would be locked in the fear of workers stealing company materials.

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One of the most remembered and most infamous incidents in American industrial history was the fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist Company factory. On March 25, 1911, the Triangle Shirtwaist Company factory burned, which killed 145 workers in New York City. The incident was always remembered and studied for years as in this case the deaths of these 145 employees could be prevented. Most of the employees died due to neglect of occupational safety features and also due to locked doors within the factory building.

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ER #3 Triangle Shirtwaist Fire Emily Refici SUNY American History Mrs. Paventi Liverpool High School The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, a catastrophic event that occurred in 1911, remains an important moment in American industrial history. This tragedy, which claimed the lives of 146 garment workers, predominantly young immigrant women, highlighted the dangerous working conditions they faced in the rapidly growing garment industry of the time. Laissez-faire - a political French expression referring to governments' resistance to meddle with the functioning of the market economy, is illustrated in this as there was no government involvement concerning worker safety. The disaster served as a wake-up call for the need to prioritize

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Conflicts between workers and employers are prevalent to this day. From fair wages, to better working conditions, and even to appropriate healthcare, there is always some form of questioning that needs to be addressed. Dating back to the late 1800’s the economy and labor market of the United States underwent massive changes which mainly revolved around people of all different racial and socioeconomic backgrounds becoming wage laborers. Due to these previously unheard-of changes, a conflict between the employees and employers began. Therefore, in order to resolve labor issues, through great difficulty workers created unions and protested against their employers.

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The detrimental Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire is considered to be one of the most tragic disasters in history. On March 25th, 1911, a fire broke out and killed 146 garment workers who were mostly women. These women worked countless hours with low wages and inhumane working conditions in a factory. Even though this event was tragic, the triangle shirtwaist fire helped to shape the new world for the better. The multitude of workers trapped within the inferno to their demise was the final straw for the mistreatment of America’s workers.

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In April 2013, Matthew Yglesias, an American Economics Journalist proposed the people of Bangladesh would not appreciate having stronger safety standards in their country because it would cause undue harm economically. He asserts Bangladesh should have different lower standards for safety because they are a poorer country. Most of the people involved in the New York tragedy of 1911 also known as the Triangle Fire, would not agree with Matthew Yglesias on his assertion that lower economic status would be an indication of lower safety standards in factories. Namely, the workers, the union leaders, the progressive reformers and the political leaders would all vote for higher standards commiserate with the United States. The only ones who would not argue with Yglesias are the owners of the Triangle Factory with their vested interest, their own problems of multiple fires and accusations of safety neglect.

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This event caused people to lose trust in all unions, causing unions to lose headway in changing the labor laws for the better (Cummings). March 4, 1913 United States Department of Labor was established President William H. Taft signed the bill that would establish the Department of Labor on this date. The Department of Labor was created to protect the welfare of the people who are out there working, it would help to improve the working conditions for the workers, and it would help workers earn a profit for their labor (United States Department of Labor). I believe this event to be important in the evolution of labor laws during the industrial revolution because it would help to create many labor laws, and dramatically improve the working conditions that would include new safety regulations. 1932

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The “hands off” government that controlled the United States did not regulate the way large corporations ran. Poor, unsanitary, and unclean working conditions were unfortunately a very common theme in the working class world. The Triangle Shirtwaist factory fire opened the eyes of many who were blind to the workplace situations taking place. The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire textbook, written by Sabrina Crewe and Adam R. Schaefer states, “For Many, it was a terrible situation, but it took a tragic fire to make the wealthier citizens in American Society realize that reforms were needed in the workplace” During the Triangle Shirtwaist Workplace Factory fire, hundreds of young girls, immigrants, and women were burned or forced to jump to their death because of a large fire that arose. At this time, there were no regulations on how workers were treated, so they were chained inside to avoid the women taking breaks throughout the day.

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These laws were a significant departure from the earlier idea that the government should not intervene in the economy and showed that Progressives believed in using government power to control business practices and, most importantly, protect its employees. The Triangle Fire documentary puts the spotlight on the change brought by the Progressive movement. The documentary shows the horrific conditions faced by workers in 1911, which led to the death of 146 workers, and the poor response of the factory owners and government officials. This tragedy served as a humongous catalyst for the Progressive movement, which pushed for laws and regulations that would protect workers and prevent similar tragedies from happening

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Long hours, unsafe conditions, and low wages made many workers furious at their corporations

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The work was also dangerous with not much supervising by the government. Workers, on the other hand, had little or even no bargaining power to leave the unsafe conditions. Nowadays, When Americans only pay attention when extreme work strike, levels of abuse are the norm hidden in the factories around the globe. Although the condition seems much improved, consumers don’t know the true fact- “Today, American citizens simply cannot know the working conditions of the factories that make the products they buy.

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