100th Anniversary of The Triangle Shirtwaist Fire

100th Anniversary of the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire, Birth of the New Deal
The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire horrified New York on March 25, 1911, and remains the most deadly industrial disaster in the city's history. The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory was a sweatshop, in which immigrants, mostly young Jewish and Italian women, worked long hours for low pay under horrible conditions.

Where Was the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory?
The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory was on the ninth floor of the Asch Building (now the Brown Building), which was at 29 Washington Place in Greenwich Village. The Triangle Shirtwaist Company (owned by Isaac Harris and Max Blanck, "the shirtwaist kings" of the Upper West Side) took up three floors of the Asch Building, making women's blouses.
The all of the exits on each floor were locked except one, as the owners didn't want their employees stealing. At around 4:45pm on March 25, 1911, a fire broke out in the northwest corner of the eighth floor. Someone was able to telephone the 10th floor, but the workers on the 9th floor found out about the fire when they saw the smoke.

When the 240 women on the ninth floor realized that the building was on fire, they bolted for the only open exit, which they found was blocked by flames. Smoke was filling the floor. The only way out was the fire escape, which collapsed almost immediately. A few women made it to the freight elevator, but the rest either jumped from the ninth floor to the street below or perished in the flames and smoke.

146 women died in the Triangle Shirtwaist fire.

The Triangle Shirtwaist Fire and the New Deal
The employees of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory were part of a larger movement at the time: a labor movement. They, along with employees of dozens of other sweatshops, had recently been on strike for higher wages, more sane working hours, and the right to form a union. The Shirtwaist Kings of the Upper West Side drew the line at a union, but made some concessions for pay. Working hours were nine hours a day on weekdays, and seven hours a day on Saturdays.

The Triangle Shirtwaist fire was arguably the birth of the New Deal. Frances Perkins, who would later become FDR's Secretary of Labor, witnessed the fire in person: "Every one of them was killed, everybody who jumped was killed. It was a horrifying spectacle." This was not the only sweatshop fire in New York, but it was the biggest.

The Names of the Victims
While the Chalk commemoration has taken place since 1994, to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Triangle Shirtwaist fire, the names of the victims are being read aloud for the first time. Other commemorations are taking place around the country.The timing is no accident, as laborers are under attack once again.

The Triangle fire anniversary has gotten national attention because in the wake of the Wisconsin battle – echoed in other states like Ohio, Michigan, New Jersey and now Maine -- people are realizing that with unions on the decline, plutocrats like the Koch brothers calling the shots, and the Democratic Party either MIA or cozying up to Wall Street, most of us are unprotected from corporate caprice or cruelty that can lead to disaster.


(Source: http://www.nowpublic.com/world/triangle-shirtwaist-fire-names-victims-be-read-2770579.html)