During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, labor activists, progressive reformers, and politicians of various stripes focused the public’s attention on the plight of the working class, which included many recent immigrants. During this time America was facing growing inequalities in wealth, where a disproportionately large amount of the wealth was in the hands of the elite class while the much larger working class was left with a much smaller proportion of wealth . In addition to the large disparity in wealth between classes, workers were often facing excruciating conditions in the workplace. It was not uncommon for workers to work 12-hour days, 7 days a week to earn a meager wage, which barely supported their life in the horrendous …show more content…
Eventually the shirtwaist workers banded together and went on an impressive strike demanding for better conditions, this original strike began the process of public leaders caring about the workers plight, but the major catalyst came in the fire that occurred and the Triangle shirtwaist factory, which caused almost every important cog in New Yorks political wheel to take notice of the state of the working class even if they did not want to. One group that attempted to construct a response to the plight of the working class was urban middle class reformers, commonly known as progressives. The progressive’s lobbied for a more active government that would protect the rights of the workers. The progressives often tried to institute programs to make the life outside the workplace better for workers, especially women and children and were advocates of things like prohibition of alcohol and the temperance movement. They were very concerned with making the lives outside of the workplace better for poor immigrants and advocated for …show more content…
Labor activist got most of the factory owners to concede to their demands on paper, however, very shortly after the strike ended many factory owners returned to using their old practices of poorly treating workers. This is evident by the terrible conditions in the Triangle factory the day of the fire . Doors were locked and firehouses were not functional which lead to a much greater loss of life them if the owners of the factory had agreed to follow the reforms that the strikers had advocated for preceding the tragedy. Conditions in the factory were very similar to those shown in the silent film The Crime of Carelessness. Constant obstacle always faced the strikers including, employers opposing unions and hiring prostitutes to stand near prostitutes and undermine their appearance, Tammany hall accepting bribes from owners to unfairly prosecute strikers, the abundance of scrubs willing to work in place of strikers, and strikebreakers hired to beat up strikers. Considering the circumstances the labor activist were pretty relatively successful in in pushing forward their bolder agendas and even though they did not necessarily achieve everything they wanted, they set the stage and brought the attention to the plight of workers, which irrevocably sparked in improvement in workers rights and conditions. In other words the
On July 13, 1900 Joseph Aschs’ new building plans in New York City are approved and by January 5, 1901 the building is complete. In 1906, the eighth floor of the Asch building is bought by the Triangle Shirtwaist Company who opens a factory there. Three years later, a letter is sent to the management of the Triangle Shirtwaist building from a fire prevention expert. He suggests they that a discussion about evaluating and enhancing safety measures. Unfortunately, management does not take the letter seriously and “the letter is ignored.” (Linder, “Triangle Shirtwaist Fire Trial”) The inhumane work conditions in the factory led to the decision of twenty-five ILGWU workers to declare strike against th...
The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire most of all impacted all forms of industry, and changed the way workers worked. Along with the legislations that impacted women and children, laws also centered on the safety and well being of all workers. One of the main reforms and changes came through the formation of the New York Factory Investigating Commission, or the FIC: a legislative body that investigated the manufacturers for various infractions. They were based on protecting the workers: both their rights and their lives. The FIC investigated countless factories and “enacted eight laws covering fire safety, factory inspections and sanitation.” The FIC was highly focused on the health and safety of industrial workers, making reports and legislation that focused on “fire safety, building construction, machine guarding, heating, lighting, ventilation, and other topics” and on specific industries like “chemicals, lead trades, metal trades, printing shops, sweatshops and mercantile establishments.” Thirteen out of seventeen of the bills submitted by the FIC became laws, and “included measures requiring better fire safety efforts, more adequate factory ventilation, improved sanitation and machine guarding, safe operation of elevators” and other legislations focused for specific establishments.” Fire safety and new fire codes such as “mandate emergency exits, sprinkler systems, and maximum-occupancy laws,” such as the Fire Prevention Act of 1911, were put into place to limit the likelihood that another fire like the one at Triangle would occur, or be as drastic and deathly. Other organizations like the Joint Board of Sanitary Control “set and maintain standards of sanitation in the workplace,” as well as actually enforcing these stand...
In the beginning of the twentieth century, the economy was booming, new technology flourished. The rapid industrialization brought achievement to the United States, however, it also caused several social problems. Wealth and power were concentrated in the hands of a few, and poverty and political corruption were widespread. As people became aware of these problems, a new reform group was created. Unlike populism, which had been a group of farmers grown desperate as the economy submerged into depression, the new reform movement arose from the educated middle class. These people were known as the progressives. The Progressive Movement was a movement that aimed at solving political, economic, and social problems. The Progressives were people from the middle class who had confidence that they could achieve social progress through political reform. The Progressives sought after changes and improvements in the society through laws and other federal actions.
against their employers, employees were able to go on strike and prove a point. Some
The social and economic developments of the last quarter of the nineteenth century drastically changed the United States. The business world changed once industrialization was introduced to the world. Opportunities grew as people heard about the boundless American opportunities. Immigrants from all races flooded the cities which doubled in population from 1860-1900 (Barnes and Bowles, 2014, p. 34). However, as industries grew, owners prospered off the hard work of others. People started to feel they were not being treated fairly. People had to work harder and longer for their money. Barnes and Bowles (2014) noted “In the era of industrialization, millions of workers fought to simply have the right to work in safe conditions, and earn a fair wage” (p. 45). Many Americans feared that giant corporations would one day seek to restrict the ability of common people to get ahead and curtail individual freedoms. These fears were particularly strong among farmers, laborers, an...
The early 1900s was a time of many movements, from the cities to the rural farms; people were uniting for various causes. One of the most widespread was the labor movement, which affected people far and wide. Conditions in the nation’s workplaces were notoriously poor, but New York City fostered the worst. Factories had started out in the city’s tenements, which were extremely cramped, poorly ventilated, and thoroughly unsanitary. With the advent of skyscrapers, factories were moved out of the tenements and into slightly larger buildings, which still had terrible conditions. Workers were forced to work long hours (around 12 hours long) six hours a day, often for extremely low pay. The pay was also extremely lower for women, who made up a large portion of the shirtwaist industry. If a worker were to openly contest an employer’s rule, they would be promptly fired and replaced immediately. Also, strength in numbers did not always work. Managers often hired brutal strikebreakers to shut movements down. The local police and justice were often of no help to the workers, even when women were being beaten. At the time, the workers needs were not taken seriously and profit was placed ahead of human life. This was not just a struggle for workers’ rights; it was also a movement for the working class’ freedom.
The Triangle Shirtwaist Company Fire was one of the most tragic events in America’s industrial history. A dropped lit cigarette on caused a fire that killed twenty-three men and 123 women, some as young as fourteen years old. Because the regular exit was already blocked by flames and the only other exit was locked, fifty-five Shirtwaist employees jumped or fell from windows on the ninth floor to escape the flames, twenty jumped or fell into the elevator shaft, twenty fell from the fire escape, and fifty burned alive. One year earlier, these same women went on strike and agitated for safer workplace conditions, as well as better pay, shorter hours, and unions. Though horrific, the Triangle Shirtwaist conflagration did help catalyst legislative
“Terrible forces seemed out of control and the nation seemed imperiled. Farmers and workers had been waging political war against capitalists and political conservatives for decades, but then, slowly, toward the end of the nineteenth century a new generation of middle class Americans interjected themselves into public life and advocated new reforms to tame the runaway world of the Gilded Age” (American Yawp). Until one of the major tragedy happened known as the Triangle Shirtwaist were the factory was caught fire and many women had died or were injured. Events such as the Triangle Shirtwaist fire convinced many Americans of the need for reform, but the energies of activists were needed to spread a new commitment to political activism and government interference in the economy” (American Yawp). This is similar to the documentary video, A Dangerous Business, because, “workers had become injured in the McWane Corporation, safety was sacrificed to increase productivity” (Frontline/ Bergman). “Few years passed till OSHA found many violations but still owners would still put their workers at risk breaking violations time passed and suddenly they had too many violations that McWane had spent $5 million to develop a self-contaminated water treatment system, eliminated hazards, hired
Conditions and pay were no better at other factories. The strike was possible with the backing of Local 25 of the International Ladies Garment Workers Union (ILGWU). Factory workers were striking industry-wide. Slowly one by one, individual factory owners agreed to the demands of the workers including union representation. Unlike the other factory owners, Blanck and Isaac were angered and indignant. The two hired “strong-arm men” to intimidate and pick fights with the picketers. Blanck and Isaac bribed policemen to arrest those who fought back and bribed judges to find workers guilty. Finally, after three months of striking, Blanck and Isaac decided to negotiate with strikers (Argersinger, 60). The offer was an increase in wages and improvements in working conditions. The workers refused and the strike continued. While wages and working conditions were important, allowing a union to organize in the factory was highly sought after. Blanck and Isaac would not allow the union to be formed in their organization and stood by it. Another two months passed, and on February 23, 1910, Triangle workers accepted increased wages and better hours (Argersinger,
It is the worker’s condition that he truly focuses on. Many of the problems that people faced during this time include: tenement housing, poor working conditions, child labor, monopolies of business, social and political inequality, and most importantly people putting profits over lives. It is around the same time that a terrible fire broke out at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory. The unsafe working conditions made the employees escape nearly impossible.
An outburst in growth of America’s big city population, places of 100,000 people or more jumped from about 6 million to 14 million between 1880 and 1900, cities had become a world of newcomers (551). America evolved into a land of factories, corporate enterprise, and industrial worker and, the surge in immigration supplied their workers. In the latter half of the 19th century, continued industrialization and urbanization sparked an increasing demand for a larger and cheaper labor force. The country's transformation from a rural agricultural society into an urban industrial nation attracted immigrants worldwide. As free land and free labor disappeared and as capitalists dominated the economy, dramatic social, political, and economic tensions were created. Religion, labor, and race relations were questioned; populist and progressive thoughts were developed; social Darwinism and nativism movements were launched.
The documentary strived to show us how factories were corrupt that they couldn’t provide good working conditions for the workers until we lost people. This documentary is about the tragic fire that took place on March 25, 1911 in the Triangle factory. We can clearly see through this documentary that these people didn’t matter to the factory owners because their needs were not met. The documentary shows that the year before the fire took place the workers led a strike asking for better working conditions, but obviously their voices were not heard. After the fire took place this is when factories started improving working conditions. It is sad to learn that it took 146 lives of innocent people in order for factory owners to be convinced that they need to improve the poor working
“The ‘Triangle’ company, “With blood this name will be written in the history of the American workers’ movement, and with feeling will this history recall the names of the strikers of this shop- of the crusaders” (Von Drehle 86). Even before it happen, the Forward predicted the terrible disaster of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory that occurred one year, one month, and seventeen days later (86). Triangle: The Fire that Changed America, by David Von Drehle tells the story of the horrible fire.
A. Plan of the Investigation The purpose of this investigation is to analyze the progress of workers’ unions in the U.S. in the event of the Triangle Shirtwaist Company Fire. The question being investigated is: to what extent did the Triangle Shirtwaist Company Fire catalyze progress for American laborers? The investigation includes the evaluation of labor unions both prior to and following the Triangle Shirtwaist Company fire. Legislation following this notorious event will also be analyzed in order to properly determine the extent to which this event catalyzed progress in the workers’ rights movement, and its overall impact on workers’ rights.
Different social classes can be distinguished by inequalities in such areas as power, authority, and wealth, working and living conditions, life-styles, life span, education, religion, and culture. The 19th century was primarily divided into four distinct social groups (or classes): “upper class”, “middle class”, “working class”, and “under class”. Beneath the working class of industrial workers, submerged the “under class”. They were often referred to as the “sunken people”-- those of which lived in poverty. Each class included a wide range of occupations of varying status and income; there was a large gap between the classes. Early in the 19th century the labels “working classes” and “middle classes” were already coming into frequent usage. The old inherited aristocracy, reinforced by the new gentry who owned their success to business, industry, and the professions, evolved into an “upper class” which grimly maintained control over the political system, depriving not only the working classes, but also the middle classes of a voice in (the) political developments. However, the increasingly powerful middle classes undertook organized demonstrations to remedy this situation while the working class became hostile to not only the upper class, but the middle class as well. The working class was not exactly the lowest class but endured a lot of hardships. They endured unemployment, long hours with little pay; factories full of filth, animals and pests, harsh climate/temperatures,...