DATELINE TOOBWORLD: 103 YEARS AGO TODAY

By Robert Reich:

"103 years ago today, the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in New York City caught fire, causing the deaths of 146 garment workers -- mostly young Jewish and Italian immigrant women, who jumped from the 9th and 10th floors because the fire department's ladders weren’t long enough to reach them and the factory owners had locked doors to stairwells and exits to keep out union organizers and prevent workers from taking breaks and stealing fabric.

It was an era of great wealth and urban squalor, underpaid and overworked employees, overcrowded and unsafe working conditions, and legislators whose votes were bought by industrial magnates. Even after the tragedy, the president of New York’s Real Estate Board warned against improved safety standards. "The experience of the past proves conclusively that the best government is the least possible government,” he argued. The Board predicted safety laws would drive "manufacturers out of the City and State of New York."

But safety standards were established nonetheless, and the International Ladies Garment Worker's Union became powerful enough to protect workers against the worst forms of exploitation."

"The Triangle Factory Fire Scandal"
[30 January 1979]

From the IMDb:
The story of a fire in the Triangle Shirt Mfg. Co. building in New York City in 1911 that resulted in the deaths of 146 employees, mostly young women. The ensuing investigation revealed the company's almost total disregard for its workers' safety in pursuit of increased production and profits, and resulted, among other things, in the passage of new worker safety laws and the formation of the International Ladies Garment Workers Union.

Here is the TV movie in full..........

Good night and may God bless.....