The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire

THE TRIANGLE SHIRTWAIST FACTORY FIRE FROM TRAGEDY CAME revision Donna Baker MG 420 14 February 2011 In the early 20th century, immigrants from atomic number 63 flooded Ellis Island in droves in search of tracks paved with gold which they believed to be found in the United subjects. The majority of these immigrants settled in in the altogether York City to live in tenement housing and find nominate in the 30,000 factory storeys and sweatshops that were located in Lower Manhattan. Each year, 612,000 workers, for the or so part immigrants were turning pop out one-tenth of the industrial output of the United States.A shadower of a million men, women and children labored without any regulations. 3 The majority of habilitate workers were made up of Southern Italian and eastmostern European Judaic immigrant women. They ranged in age from 15 to 23 and many r bittie English. 2 Their days were long. On average, workers put in eleven hours, provided most often they were sixteen to twenty hours, six days a week for which they were paid most $6 per week. 1 The women were subjected to intolerable, brutal works conditions where if you were sick, you came to work sick for fear of being dismissd.While on the job, it was common devote to be locked into your work space unable to go anywhere at-will. The nightmarish conditions were likened to working in a slave factory. The doors were locked to keep out unification organizers, to keep the women focused on their jobs, and to prevent the workers from stealing material. 2 The snort of the autos and the yelling of the foremen made it unbearable. Paychecks were docked or the workers were fired for humming or public lecture on the job. 3 The bathrooms were located outside and the workers were made to ask to be dismissed to use them.The shirtwaist makers were paid by the piece produced and fixity was e re every(prenominal)ything. The quality, however, was not important. In some cases, they were indispensable to u se their own needles, thread, press and occasionally their own sewing machines which they carried on their backs. 1 The shirtwaist, which is other name for a womans blouse, had a high neck, whiff long sleeves and was tightly fitted at the waist. It was one of the countrys rootage fashion statements that crossed class telegraph wires. The booming ready-made clothing sedulousness made the stylish shirtwaist affordable even for working women.Worn with an ankle-length skirt, the shirtwaist was appropriate for any occasion from work to play and was more roaring and practical than fashion that preceeded it, like corsets and hoops. 1 The garment workers had the beginnings of representation to shout out implorable conditions, as basic as it was, when on June 3, 1900 the International Ladies Garment Workers jointure (ILGWU) was founded in New York City by representatives from seven local East Coast meats. The union represented both male and female workers who produced womens clot hing.Though affiliated with the more conservative American feederation of Labor for most of its history, the ILGWU was unusual in representing both semi-skilled and unskilled (automated) workers. 8 Although the ILGWU was formed, it did little to tinge the working conditions at the factories. So, on November 22, 1909 the ILGWU called a meeting in the cooper Union Hall to consult its membership and map out a strategy. 8 The hall was packed full and there were many speakers who spoke endlessly. They promised their support but feared retaliation by the employers in the form of firings and corporal harm. Clara Lemlich, a seamstress and union member who was 19 and already hard beaten for her part in union involvement, came forward and took the stage. She called for an immediate demand of all the garment workers and her motion was resoundingly endorsed. 1 This was to become know as the largest let on of women in the history of the United States. 1 within days, more than 20,000 shir twaist makers, from 500 factories, walked out and joined the picket line at Union Square. This was called the Uprising of the 20,000. More than 70 of the smaller factories concur to the unions demands within the first 48 hours.However, the fiercely anti-union owners of the trigon factory met with owners of the 20 largest factories to form a manufacturing association. 1 A month into the strike, most of the small and mid-sized factories settled with the strikers. 1 The garment workers went back to work. The factories reservation up the manufacturing association realized that the public opinion was not on their side and hold to negotiate. The garment workers rejected their proposal because it prevented the workers from having a shut shop. Due to dwindling resources, this first union strike fell short.By February 1910, the strike was finally settled and resulted in a protocol of peace surrounded by the womens clothing industry and labor. 7 The few remaining factories rehired the s trikers, agreed to higher wages and shorter hours and recognized the union in name yet, resisting a closed shop. 1 The Triangle workers went back to work without a union agreement. There were still no regulations of the working conditions. Management never intercommunicate their demands, including unlocked doors in the factory and fire escapes that were functional. This will prove to be an extremely costly error within the following 13 months result of time.The Triangle Shirtwaist manufactory was located in the Asch Building, occupying the top ternary embellishs of the ten-floor twist in the heart of Manhattans Garment District. The company utilise all over 500 men and women with the majority of them Jewish and Italian women ranging in age from 13-23. 3 Their work was primarily sewing shirtwaist blouses. The eighth floor was where the cutting room was situated. The 9th floor was where the sewers worked, lined machine to machine in many long rows, hunched over sewing machine s that were operated by foot pedals. The finished shirtwaists hung on lines to a higher place the workers heads and bundles of material, trimmings, and junk of fabric were piled high in the cramped aisle between the machines. 2 The 10th floor housed the company offices. On Saturday, March 25, 1911, at nearly 445pm, with 15 minutes left in the work day, a fire grew quickly out of control on the 8th floor cutters area. It is believed to have been caused by a cigarette or match which was put away either on the floor covered with sewing machine rock oil or in one of the cloth scrap containers, or perchance from a spark put off from the overheating of an electric cutters machine. Fed by thousands of pounds of flammable fabric6 fire engulfed the area and diffuse to the floors above in record speed. Most of the workers on the 8th floor were able to make their way to galosh by using the steps or elevator. The workers on the 10th floor received a speech sound call about the fire an d were able to climb to the roof of the building and made their way to the adjoining New York University building and were rescued. 6 The unlucky workers on the 9th floor, however, didnt stand a chance.Their fates were sealed because the only if safety measure available for them were 27 buckets of water, a fire escape that would pass when people tried to use it, and 2 exit doors which were locked or only opened inward and were effectively held shut by the onrush of workers escaping the fire. 5 About 200 women were trapped on the 9th floor with no pith of escape. Twenty women made it out on the fire escape to begin with it crumpled to the street, killing a number of women who were on it. Some attempt to slide down the elevator cables only to lose their grip and drop dead to their deaths. 2 The desperate women didnt know what else to do, so they began breaking out the windows and climbing out on the narrow ledge from which they jumped from the 9th floor to the street below. Som e were on fire and burning as they fell. For the fire department, the iniquity story that unfolded was compounded by the fact that although their equipment was the most sophisticated of its day, the ladders only reached up to the 6th floor. 6 Firemen watched helplessly as workers died before their very eyes. The water pressure in the hoses failed. And the life nets broke when the desperate women jumped in groups of three and four. In less than 30 minutes, the fire had spent itself. In its wake it left 146 dead. 3 Of the 146 who died, 141 died at the scene and 5 died at the hospital. Six of these victims were never identified. Most died of burns, asphyxiation, blunt impact injuries or a combination of the three. 2 It is often thought that most or all of the dead were women but, in reality, almost thirty of the victims were men. 4 The Triangle fire became known as the deadliest industrial disaster in the history of the urban center of New York and resulted in the fourth highest loss of life from an industrial happening in U. S. history. 4 Three months after the fire, the owners of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory, sludge Blanck and Isaac Harris were indicted for manslaughter and acquitted of all charges. 6 It was believed that they broke no laws. Three historic period after the fire, a court ordered the owners to pay $75. 00 to each of the xxiii families who had sued for the loss of family members. 3 From the ashes of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire came the sterling(prenominal) political transformation in American history to bring about social welfare legislation. 4 The horrors of the bodies and the number of dead was the key to change. 2 The Triangle fire brought everyone together emotionally and spiritually to want change. The resulting purify became an epic event. It took four grueling years of factory investigations by the Factory Investigating Commission to investigate fire safety as sound as other conditions affecting the health and welfare o f factory workers. 2 Among the results of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire are that the New York State Assembly enacted legislation that required installation of automatic sprinkler systems in buildings over seven stories high that had more than 20 people employed above the 7th floor.Legislation also provided for fire drills and the installation of fire alarm systems in factory buildings over two stories high that employed 25 persons or more above the ground floor. Additional laws mandated that factory waste should not be permitted on factory floors but instead should be deposited in fireproof receptacles. Because of bodies found in the open elevator shafts of the Asch Building, legislation was enacted that required all elevator shafts to be enclosed. 9 WORKS CITED