12.4 Triangle Shirtwaist Fire and Labor Laws

Triangle Shirtwaist Fire

Results of the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire

• Increase in Sweatshops: As the industrial age progressed, the number of factories and sweatshops increased.
• Horrendous Labor Conditions: Laborers faced long hours, low pay, and poor morale.
• Families, including children, needed to work to make ends meet.
• On-the-job accidents were common, with no compensation for injured workers.
• Unions and Strikes: A few unions organized strikes to improve worker conditions.
• Disaster Leading to Reform: It took a disaster and significant loss of life to initiate workplace reform.

Triangle Shirtwaist Factory

• Factory Overview: The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in New York City was a typical sweatshop.
• Production: It produced clothing.
• Employment: Employed approximately 500 people, mainly young women and girls.
• Conditions: The factory was hot, stuffy, and filled with lint fibers, with inadequate ventilation.
  • Workers often went to fire escapes for fresh air during breaks.
  • Management locked or nailed doors shut to prevent workers from taking extended breaks, prioritizing productivity over worker comfort and safety.

The Fire

• Date: March 25, 1911
• Location: Eighth floor of the factory.
• Cause: The cause of the fire is undetermined; possibilities include a lit match, a cigarette, faulty electrical wiring, or a sewing machine malfunction.
• Workers on the lower floors and some on the Eighth and Tenth floors managed to escape.

Ninth Floor Tragedy

• Limited Exits: Only two doors led out of the Ninth Floor.
• Blocked Exits:
  • One stairwell was filled with smoke and flames.
  • The other door was locked to prevent theft and keep out union organizers.
• Failed Fire Escape: A single, flimsy fire escape quickly collapsed due to excess weight.
• Non-functional Elevator: The elevator stopped working, leaving no escape route.
• Desperate Measures: Workers, trapped by the fire, jumped from windows.
• Bystander Accounts: Bystanders watched in horror as workers fell to their deaths.
• Elevator Shaft Attempts: Some workers tried to jump down the elevator shaft, with only one survivor found nearly drowned by firefighter hoses.

Aftermath

• Casualties: 148 deaths (141 at the scene, 7 in hospitals).
• Owners' Survival: Owners Max Blank and Isaac Harris escaped to the roof.
• Trial and Acquittal: The owners were acquitted in a criminal trial after arguing they did not know the doors were locked.
• Civil Suit: They were later forced to pay 75.00 to each victim's family in a civil suit.

Reform Efforts

• Public Outcry: Garment workers and the public were outraged by the lenient outcome of the trial.
• Coalition for Reform: A coalition of union members, progressive reformers, and Tammany Hall officials pushed for safety and workers' compensation laws.
• Legislative Changes: New York passed 35 laws to protect workers.
• Organization Formation: The American Society of Safety Engineers was formed in late 1911.
• Factory Inspection Laws: More cities and states passed factory inspection laws to ensure safe working conditions.

Supreme Court Rulings on Labor Laws

• Worker Advocacy: Voices across the country complained about worker treatment, often ignored by factory owners and managers unless mandated by the courts.
• Lochner v. New York (1905): A landmark case where the Supreme Court struck down a New York state law limiting bakers' work hours to 60 per week.
• Court Decision: The court ruled 5-4 that the law was an unnecessary interference with the individual's right to contract.
• Dissenting Opinions: Judges John Marshall Harlan and Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. dissented.
• Subsequent Rulings: For the next 25 years, the Supreme Court continued to strike down federal and state laws regulating working conditions.
• Shift in Approach: It wasn't until 1937 that the court began to take a different stance on labor laws.