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Research Paper On Triangle Shirtwaist Company Fire

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Triangle Shirtwaist Company Fire The Triangle Shirtwaist Company fire that occurred in New York City on March 25, 1911, remains as one of the most important events in the history of United States due to the aftermath as well as being considered “the beginning of a modern safety movement.” This fire took the lives of 146 people, most of them being immigrant women, very few men, and young girls around the age of sixteen. The fire led to improvements, and a movement against unsafe working conditions in factories located in New York and in other factories throughout the United States. It also became the main cause for workplace safety regulations to be investigated on both the state and federal level. The building that was owned by …show more content…

The strike spread to the city's other shirtwaist Factories, over the next few weeks and local newspapers referred to the general strike as the "uprising of the ten thousand". Surely, government officials, the media, and the public split into two camps with unions, labor organizations, and blue collar workers supporting the strikers while businesses and industrial leaders condemned them. Although the manufacturers tried a number of strategies to break the strike including mass arrests and the use of thugs to beat and threaten the workers, public judgment appeared to reside with labor. In February of 1910 the opposing groups reached a settlement, which gave the strikers a bit of a wage increase. Although the strikers thought they had gained a shorter workweek and better working conditions, no changes were actually made. For example, union demands for better fire safety were not …show more content…

A committee of 25 people, involving Frances Perkins and Henry Stimson—who later became cabinet members in President Franklin D. Roosevelt's administration—was created as a first step in establishing a Bureau of Fire Prevention. A nine-member Factory Investigating Commission, overseen by state senators Alfred E. Smith. the Democratic presidential candidate in 1928), Robert W. Wagner, and union leader Samuel Gompers, worked from 1911 to 1914 to investigate fire safety as well as other conditions affecting the health and wellbeing of factory workers. In 1912 the New York State Assembly enacted legislation that required installation of automatic sprinkler systems in buildings over seven stories high that had more than 200 people working above the seventh floor. Legislation also provided for fire drills and the installation of fire alarm systems in factory buildings over two stories high that employed 25 people or more above the first floor. Additional laws mandated that factory waste should not be permitted on factory floors but instead should be deposited in fireproof receptacles. Because of the bodies found in the open elevator shafts of the Asch Building, legislation was enacted that required all elevator shafts to be

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508 Words | 3 Pages

Many doors were left locked and many people couldn't get out of the building. There were only one set of stairs reported that wasn't locked. On top of that the water hose did not work when they needed it Many peoples outrage fell on the company's owners Max Blanck and Isaac Harris. They were the ones reported to lock the doors and put out the flammable materials. Two weeks after the fire happened the grand jury put Max Blanck and Isaac Harris on trial for manslaughter.

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1557 Words | 7 Pages

Despite the death and destruction it caused, the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire ultimately benefited America by opening the eyes of mistreated factory workers and inspiring them to fight for better working conditions. Though it was unbeknownst at the time, the fire would inspire mistreated workers to rise out of the ashes and work tirelessly not for a factory, but for their own wellbeing. The history, the fire, and the trial that are all connected to the Triangle Shirtwaist Company are the events that led to the exploration for better working conditions. While we may not wish to remember all of the suffering the conflagration caused, we see its imprint it left on society whenever we see someone at work. This just imprint is one of safety.

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239 Words | 1 Pages

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,

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725 Words | 3 Pages

1. Calvin Coolidge - Governor of Massachusetts who later became the 30th President of the U.S. He is significant because he was involved in the Boston Police Strike. Coolidge called out the National Guard to restore order and was praised for saving the nation from communism and anarchy. 2.

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503 Words | 3 Pages

There were 600 workers present. They attempted to use the fire hose but it was unsuccessful because the hose was rotted and the valve was shut. Only 48 workers escaped through the elevator. Others went through the stairway where they burned to their deaths when there was a locked door. Jumpers broke the nets that were provided when three jumpers went at the exact same

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864 Words | 4 Pages

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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1304 Words | 6 Pages

Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire In March of 1911 the deadliest industrial fire disaster in the history of New York City and one of the deadliest in US history occurred that changed the world. Men and women who were working hard in the Asch building, ready to be released in five minutes, burned to their death in a matter of minutes. By the senseless actions of a worker throwing his cigarette into a bin filled with scraps of inflammable clothing, the whole building suffered.

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759 Words | 4 Pages

Third, the workers were locked inside the work room during the work day. This practice led to many deaths in the fire. While these all occurred in the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory, they were not unique to it. Other factories and job sites also included these inane practices. The formation of labor unions led to better working conditions by creating laws and regulations that protected the workers (Greenwald, 2002).

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589 Words | 3 Pages

One of the biggest workplace disasters in the American industrial history was The Triangle Shirtwaist factory fire in Manhattan, New York. On March 25 of 1911, the Triangle Shirtwaist Company factory, which manufactured women blouses, erupted in flames, killing 146 people and injuring nearly 71. Most of the people killed and injured by the fire were women and children. This incident caused an outrage among labor workers against hazardous working environments in factories not just in New York but also in many industrial centers all over the states.

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854 Words | 4 Pages

Politically the Workers had much support. The workers brought the Governor of Nevada out in support of their strike. The workers brought to his attention on how the Elardi family has done them wrong and by doing so, this led all their complaints under investigation. Last but not least was the economic power these employees had for being on the picket line for six years. This shows that the workers had much support from the state, and they were not going to back

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1576 Words | 7 Pages

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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1399 Words | 6 Pages

Such as a strike that happened in 1877; the strike had failed to be successful when the government has authorized the approval of police force resulting in strikers being killed and workers beginning to arm themselves for protection. Since employers continually turned a deaf ear to union demands, and unions saw a need to push harder to get the desired results.

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761 Words | 4 Pages

Also at the time children were still being used in factories as laborers they did not have to pay. As David A. Wells said, “[T]he modern manufacturing system has been brought into a condition comparable to that of a military organization, in which the individual no longer works as independently as formerly, but as a private in the ranks, obeying orders, keeping step, as it were, to the tap of the drum..”. Many were just like simple robots being used as cheap labor, no one took pride in their work anymore and once workers and citizens began to realize that they held many strikes to try and change what the government had set for them. Some strikes include The Great Railroad Strike of 1877, Haymarket Bombing 1886, Homestead Strike 1892, and the Pullman Strike 1894. These strikes were held by many different labor unions that had formed at the time, to the public many saw the movements of the unions as radical and aggressive.

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587 Words | 3 Pages

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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920 Words | 4 Pages

One of the largest problems with the growth of corporate power across the United States was that monopolies were beginning to be formed around entire industries, allowing for one parent company to control the price that consumers would have to play for all products that they controlled, resulting in the American people having to pay preposterous prices for products such as gas. Safety standards and regulations were practically nonexistent during this time, with companies allowing for things such as child labor, along with frequent deaths of employees who had to work closely with dangerous and faulty machinery. Costs were cut on basic safety processions such as fire escapes, resulting in deaths of thousands of workers in different factory fires across the country, one of the most famous of which was the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, resulting in the deaths of 146 female employees who had been locked in the building during work hours to increase productivity. Accidents such as this is what triggered the creations of labor groups and unions including the Knights of Labor and the American Federation of Labor to protest injustices such as the safety violations of workers, the poor treatment of workers, and

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