Introduction Summary The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire is considered one of the deadliest fire tragedies in history that claimed 146 lives of mostly young girls and women. Majority of the victims were Italian and Jewish immigrants working in the garment factory (Lewis, 2016). They escaped their mother countries to seek better lives in the United States, but instead were met with terrible conditions of working and grinding poverty. In 1911, March 25th on a Saturday afternoon, a tragedy occurred in New York City in the garment company called Triangle Shirtwaist, where a fire occurred in the Asch Building top floors.
At the end of the nineteenth century, beginning of the twentieth, America was in an era of industrial growth. People began to think that the social and economic problems of the last century had to do with rapid industrialization in America. Progressives, also known as reformers, sought to fight against issues such as the status of women in society, labour rights and immigration. With the growth of industrialization, factories had grown in size and unsafe working conditions were the norm. The fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist Company on March 25, 1911 in New York City changed the way America dealt with labour reform regarding working conditions.
As a result of this, there were a disturbing amount of casualties. Newark and even the rest of the country opened their eyes after this horrific incident resulting the country forced to reinforce their safety regulations in the workplace making Newark city a prime example of change in labor conditions. Because of this factory fire, Newark improved their city with these new regulations and the city as a whole has become much safer to work in. The way an outsider, Hopkins, born and raised in Bangor, discusses the way labor was affecting the workers lives is unique because Hopkins learned of all this tragedy from others who have experienced it and not herself. We can see various ways labor identity is being formed by the people who are affected by the poor safety
Anyone who was thrown out would not be paid” (29). The workers were forced to mark the paper of fear of not getting paid and losing their jobs. Another way workers were exploited is by working in horrible conditions.
Many had to work in unsafe conditions in which one can easily lose their life. For example, according to Robert owen ( 1771-1858) “ Working condition were difficult and dangerous. Small children worked alongside their parents in the factory.” These dangerous conditions brought social inequality as the working class were treated as if their lives do not matter. Since the workers could be easily replaced, the owners did not care about the quality of the working conditions.
In 1911, one of the most infamous incidents in American industrial history occurred when the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in New York City burned, killing 145 workers. It is one of the most remembered incidents since the deaths were largely preventable. Most victims died as a result of neglected safety features and locked doors within the factory building. While the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire did result in a new legislation for safety in the work place, it was not the most important result. The most important result was the institution of the process to enforce pre-existing legislation regarding worker safety and protection in the workplace along with the laws that followed.
Women and children have to work in a very bad situation long in a dangerous and unhealthy environment for a long hours. Most of them couldn’t bare the situation and got sick, but still they have to work to keep their
During the 1900’s working conditions were undeniably horrible. In Packingtown everyday got more difficult as the days went on. In the meat packing business things were supposed to be done quick. Inside the factories packing, chopping, inspecting and people actions didn’t mix. Not only did the people in the factories suffered, the people outside of the factory also suffered.
THE TRIANGLE FIRE: THE DEADLIEST INDUSTRIAL DISASTER IN THE HISTORY OF THE CITY Triangle Shirtwaist Company In a tragic event accruing in the early 1900s, resulting in the deaths of 145 factory workers, ultimately led to the development of several laws and regulations that would better shape labor condition throughout the United States. In the paperback “The Triangle Fire” written by Jo Ann E. Argersinger, there are numerous primary sources with personal stories reflecting how this heartrending event shaped survivors of the Triangle Fire. Life in the Shop, All for One, and The Roosevelt I Knew are three primary sources within the text that reveal the labor conditions before and after the fire, perspectives of workers themselves, factory
Workers in industrial factories were treated harshly. They suffered physically and mentally, as they were born into a position of working young without a steady supply of food. According to Flora Tristan’s journal, workers had more needs than just food. Workers lived miserably, with a lack of “clothing, bed, furniture, fuel… they live suspended between an insufficiency of food, and an excess of strong drink” (Document 4). Without basic necessities, a fulfilling life was nearly impossible.
Another critical grievance against society performed by many affluent employers was the exploitation of the new generations. Not only were fully adult workers being brutalized through an abhorrent working environment, children as young as six years old were exposed to many of the same or similar conditions. Document three is a photograph of two little boys who look to be no older than nine years of age changing the bobbins in a giant machine without any safety equipment while the machine is running. Not only are these kids forced to work in danger of losing digits or other body parts to the hazardous contraptions they worked with all day, this eliminates any chance they have to complete much, if any amount of education that might have helped them rise up in society and break the vicious circle that makes and keeps the poor the way they are, impeding any hierarchical progress. After a grueling day of hard work with little income to show for it, as people went home to their families to eat, they were presented with virtually inedible meat that was then compounded with rat hair, and feces.
Immigrant workers were limited of their freedom and constantly exploited due to the fact that they were working in hazardous working conditions, were living in deplorable conditions, and were being harassed under the intimidating power of corrupt politicians. Such miseries the immigrants had to face included the hazardous working conditions where they had to stay for long hours. There was no doubt that workers had either die or were injured as they worked in such environment. In Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle, the dangers of working conditions are emphasized through Jurgis’ incident at the meatpacking plant.
The workers were often subjected to sweltering heat in the summer and frigid conditions in the winter. But, that was not it, at the time there were no laws in place that required businesses to ensure their employees' safety, and this regularly lead to many injuries and fatalities in the workplace on a daily basis. There was not a single work place that did not have injured or mutilated employees, and this was due to the unsafe working conditions of the factories, “Let a man so much as scrape his finger pushing a truck in the pickle-rooms, and he might have a sore that would put him out of the world; all the joints in his fingers might be eaten by the acid, one by one… There were men who worked in the cooking rooms… in these rooms the germs of tuberculosis might live for two years, but the supply was renewed every hour.” (109).
Migrant farmworkers are best defined as those individuals who are employed in agriculture, live in temporary housing, and work on a seasonal basis. Currently, there are 3 million migrant farmworkers living in the United States (Bail et al. 2012). The working and living conditions of migrant farmworkers generate great health risk, that major risk of injuries and to their health include pesticide exposure, injuries, dermatological conditions, and heat strokes. The research conducted 5 in-depth, in- person interviews of those farmworkers living in Georgia in 2010. Farmworkers explained how they felt like invisible members of society, very few people knew where labor camps were located, this was the place of residents for many migrant farmworkers.
Most of these day laborers have the jobs that many citizens of the U.S. are not willing to do, because of the risk it takes. These jobs have unsafe conditions and mostly are outdoors, and have little or no health and safety laws (Valenzuela). The article consists in uncovering the truth behind the myths that are told about day laborers. Valenzuela is an associates professor of Chicana studies and urban planning at the University of California. He has researched immigrant day laborers for the past ten years.
