The article "The Factory Girl 's Danger", Written by Miriam Finn Scott, discusses the danger of working in a progressive era factory in a skyscraper typical in the New York area. Referenced in her paper is the tragedy known as The Triangle Factory Fire in which 146 workers, mostly young girls, "were charred bodies heaped up behind doors they had vainly tried to beat down, or were unrecognizable pulp upon the street far below"(10,Scott). Miriam also goes further into detail pertaining to the lives of 2 sisters one of whom was killed in the fire. Her article on the triangle factory fire brought the public 's attention to the atrocious conditions these women worked in, Furthermore, it shined a personal light on what otherwise would just been
Barbara Ehrenreich wonders how americans can afford to survive financially off of just a minimum wage paying job. Ehrenreich decides to go undercover to find out for herself how these americans are barely making ends meat. The first place Ehrenreich goes to is Key West, Florida; she gets a job at a diner and finds a trailer home to live in but soon realizes that working at the diner alone cannot pay for her rent and put food on the table so Ehrenreich gets a second job working as a hotel maid. Soon the fatigue of working two strenuous jobs catches up to her and she decides to quit her two jobs before her first month of being undercover is up. The second city she visits is Portland, Maine.
Another result of the Triangle Factory fire that resulted in change in the American workplace was the attempts of labor unions and strikes. Prior to the fire, in 1909, one of the more notable strikes dubbed the "Uprising of 20,000" was organized primarily by female immigrant garment workers because of the awful conditions, long hours, and low wages they were made to work in due to the lack of options available to them (Pool, 2012). The primary challenge was to get attention paid to the mistreatment of immigrant workers. While there were short term agreements for their demands, the strike ultimately failed, however where it did succeed was exposing poor working conditions and stirring a debate about what counted as public and private (Pool,
Because they were poor immigrants who barely knew English, factory owners could easily take advantage of them. They use this to explain why America was so motivated by the fire, which helped push for industrial reforms. Other scholars focus on the horrible working conditions in the factory and the sensationalized newspaper stories and images to explain how this caused Americans to blame the factory owners for their poor treatment of workers. Americans’ outrage and blame of the owners helped increase support for reform. They agree that the Triangle fire added fuel to the Progressive movement and served as one of many pieces of evidence that helped in reforming labor laws.
They are responsible for locking the doors, making the workers burn, and the deaths of the young men and women who had a family to go home to.
Leo W. Gerard writes the critical column “Murdering American Manufacturing/‘Strictly Business’” in an attempt to foreshadow the imminent doom of American manufacturing due to corporations leaving for Mexico. In the column, Gerard compares the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) in an analogy to “labor abuses, not improvements”, so that the Trans-Pacific Partnership receives an understood omen of failure. In an urgent manner, the columnist bashes the TPP proposal; however he loses the reader from misplacing the main idea near the end of the column. Emitting pathos, Gerard’s tone is the equivalent to a fervent plea directed at individuals who have fallen victim to the exodus of American companies. Beginning his column, Gerard is cautious about his word choice.
The Triangle Shirtwaist fire was a great tragedy; so many young women had to suffer because of the condition and leak of care that the owner put locking the doors and forcing the women to leave through one and the leak safety in the work place for these women. The Triangle Shirtwaist incident had a great significance forwards the labor reform movement; this reform movement has grown rapidly due to the fire and is working on improving the working conditions of all factories in the United States, and the welfare of the workers.
The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire was one of the deadliest industrial disasters in the history of New York City. A fire broke out in this sweatshop that employed mostly young immigrant women who worked long hours in dangerous and cramped conditions. The fire quickly spread through the building, trapping workers on the upper floors, and the tragic event claimed the lives of 146 workers, on March 25th, 1911. The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire became a turning point in American labor history, leading to the establishment of important workplace safety regulations and sparking a movement for workers' rights. Corruption and greed doused the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire, setting America in flames, impossible to put out.
”(Holley).Many workers lost their jobs. The stock market also crashed so that made it worse.
The most frequent somber setback for sweatshop workers was being without a job. It was ordinary for a laborer, predominantly untrained, to be out of an occupation for a portion of the
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.
At this point it should be noted that health insurance programs are in place for all SAWP workers, but Jenna Hennebry shows that many of those workers are afraid of telling their boss of health problems, “for fear of repatriation” (Making vulnerability visible). All of these realities have led to the low health standers that many Canadian temporary workers experience. Although only a few of the major reasons for health issues among SAWP workers in Canada have been discussed here, it should be clear that the government needs to address these issues through legislation and changes to the way SAWP operates.
The population took a hit, with thousands dead. For
In conclusion, sweatshops are an epidemic that takes control of people’s lives and squeezes them for everything that they have got. Sweatshops are where people go to suffer agonizing pain, and often die. Sweatshops need to be eradicated from this planet. After reading this I hope you understand the magnitude of devastation that sweatshops do almost
And, unfortunately, it’s more prevalent in America than many may believe. When defining what exactly a sweatshop is and what it consists of, there are many forms that it has taken over the many decades of America’s existence. The basic definition of a sweatshop is a factory in which its employees, many being children, are exploited; working long hours in extreme cases of hazardous and unhealthful conditions for little pay. Despite the fact this is a
