PBS Triangle Fire What are some of the factors that led to the Triangle Fire? What are the factors that led to reform?

The Triangle Fire Garment industry/consumer culture 1909: International Ladies Garment Union (ILGWU) strike in NYC –20,000 –Lasted 14 weeks –20% of work force –Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Protest dangerous and demeaning conditions Picketers arrested Women organize Female dominated industries

March 25, 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire: Asch Building, Greenwich Village (now science building for NYU) 146 women died. Oldest: 48. youngest: 11 Deadliest industrial fire in U.S history

500 women worked on 8, 9, 10 floors Cost of needles, electricity and thread deducted from pay Economic competition and workers’ wages Lint and combustible cloth ignite Owners Max Blanck and Isaac Harris immigrants who “made it”

Safety precautions: buckets of water, rusted fire escape 250 workers on 9 th floor not warned Most 8 th floor workers escaped via stairs Doors locked to stairwells Crowded elevators Firemen with nets arrive Ladders reach only to 6 th floor Jumping out of windows

Reform Better building access Fireproofing Alarm systems Eating and toilet facilities Limits on work hours 1916: Adamson Act—federal law mandated 8-hr work day for interstate RR workers

May 10, 1993 Bangkok, Thailand Kadar Industrial toy factory (with 3,000 workers) ignites JC Penny, Fisher Price, Hasbro, Toys R Us Fire kills188 workers 469 severely injured Bodies incinerated in intense flames Most of the dead young women (as young as 13) Managers locked exit doors

Apple iphone factory May 2010 Shenzhen, China 11 suicides Chinese newspaper Southern Weekly undercover report employee who lost a next-generation iPhone prototype committed suicide

Savar, Bangladesh April 28, people killed