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Kids Corner
Tragic Fire a Turning Point For Worker Safety
Imagine that you have been cutting or stitching or pressing fabric in a shirtmaking factory from before dawn to after dark every day, even weekends. Your weekly pay amounts to pennies an hour. You are always tired and hungry. Your body aches. Your supervisor orders you to work faster.
At the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in New York City, that was the daily routine for thousands of immigrant women and teen-age girls in the early 1900s. Even worse was the danger. More than 600 workers were crammed into the top floors of a building where fire was an extreme risk. Yet, exit doors were blocked and locked.
Like other greedy employers running sweatshops in America’s big cities, the factory owners didn’t care about workers’ safety.
Their neglect turned tragic on March 26, 1911. In the late afternoon, a deadly fire swept through the 10-story building. Terrified, workers ran to stairways but couldn’t open the doors. They knew they would die if they didn’t get out of the building.
Some workers made it to the roof and made daring and frightening escapes across firefighters’ ladders to a neighboring building. But the ladders couldn’t reach the factory’s high floors from the street, and many workers were trapped. Some fell from a fire escape that bent under the weight of fleeing workers. Others made desperate jumps from windows.
A New York Times editor wrote that in his days as a reporter he had seen a “good many fires . . . but I never saw anything so horrible as this.”
In all, 146 people died, almost all of them girls and women. New York City was in shock. Tens of thousands of people joined in an official day of mourning in churches and synagogues and later gathered in the streets.
Labor unions, with widespread support throughout the city, demanded justice and rules to protect workers in the future. The pressure led New York to create a commission to monitor factory safety.
“The role that strong unions could have in helping prevent such tragedies became clear,” a website devoted to the fire says. “Workers organized in powerful unions would be more conscious of their rights and better able to obtain safe working conditions.”
Over the years, unions have fought and won many battles for workers’ health and safety. Today, we have strong building and fire codes. We have laws to protect workers from exposure to lead and asbestos. We have rules making it safer for workers to operate dangerous machinery and handle hazardous materials.
But there’s a lot more work to do. Each year, more than 60,000 workers die from job injuries and illnesses and another 6 million are injured. This year, as they do every year, CWA locals and many other unions honored fallen workers on April 28, Workers’ Memorial Day.
They gather in hopes of never having another day of mourning like the one described by writer Martha Bensley Bruere after the Triangle Fire:
“For two hours they have been going steadily by… thousands and thousands of working men and women carrying the banners of their trades through the long three-mile tramp in the rain. Never have I seen a military pageant or triumphant ovation so impressive; for it is not because 146 workers were killed in the Triangle shop—not altogether.
“It is because every year there are 50,000 working men and women killed in the United States — 136 a day; almost as many as happened to be killed together on the 25th of March; and because slowly, very slowly, it is dawning on these thousands on thousands that such things do not have to be!”
Background and quotes for this story came from a Cornell University website dedicated to the Triangle Factory fire. Read more by going to www.ilr.cornell.edu/trianglefire.
What the Heck is 'Ergonomics'?
“Ergonomics” is a big word that’s being used a lot lately. So what does it mean?
It’s a scientific term that means adapting machines, vehicles and work spaces to the needs of a human body. Good ergonomics means you don’t have to strain your back or shoulders by reaching too far or lifting too much. It means your computer keyboard and chair are set at a height that’s right for you. It means your mouse and keyboard are designed so your wrists and arms don’t ache and your hands don’t cramp.
Poor ergonomics causes nearly 2 million injuries every year, and that’s a big concern for CWA and other unions. A lot of the injuries — about 600,000 — are severe, and many require surgery. Some workers become crippled. Their hands and wrists are so damaged they can’t button their shirts or tie their shoes or even hold their children.
Ergonomic injuries usually develop over a long period of time. Years of typing on a keyboard for eight hours a day without proper equipment and adequate breaks can hurt your body, even if you don’t feel it at first.
People who work at manufacturing jobs and in chicken and other food-processing plants report many disabling injuries. They must work extremely fast, standing in the same place for hours at a time. In some poultry plants, workers have to reach high to pull chickens off a conveyer belt. They do it hundreds of times a day, and their bodies pay the price.
Unions want employers to make changes to protect workers. That could mean adjustable chairs and keyboards for office workers and lowering and slowing conveyer belts in poultry plants.
Some companies have made excellent progress in ergonomics. They know that keeping their workers healthy is good for business. But many employers haven’t made improvements. Unions believe state and federal laws could help protect workers.
A federal rule that addressed many of the unions’ concerns was reversed after President George W. Bush took office. But unions aren’t giving up the fight for a new rule.
“Nothing is more important than making sure our members — and our future members — are safe at work,” CWA President Morton Bahr says.
Imagine that you have been cutting or stitching or pressing fabric in a shirtmaking factory from before dawn to after dark every day, even weekends. Your weekly pay amounts to pennies an hour. You are always tired and hungry. Your body aches. Your supervisor orders you to work faster.
At the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in New York City, that was the daily routine for thousands of immigrant women and teen-age girls in the early 1900s. Even worse was the danger. More than 600 workers were crammed into the top floors of a building where fire was an extreme risk. Yet, exit doors were blocked and locked.
Like other greedy employers running sweatshops in America’s big cities, the factory owners didn’t care about workers’ safety.
Their neglect turned tragic on March 26, 1911. In the late afternoon, a deadly fire swept through the 10-story building. Terrified, workers ran to stairways but couldn’t open the doors. They knew they would die if they didn’t get out of the building.
Some workers made it to the roof and made daring and frightening escapes across firefighters’ ladders to a neighboring building. But the ladders couldn’t reach the factory’s high floors from the street, and many workers were trapped. Some fell from a fire escape that bent under the weight of fleeing workers. Others made desperate jumps from windows.
A New York Times editor wrote that in his days as a reporter he had seen a “good many fires . . . but I never saw anything so horrible as this.”
In all, 146 people died, almost all of them girls and women. New York City was in shock. Tens of thousands of people joined in an official day of mourning in churches and synagogues and later gathered in the streets.
Labor unions, with widespread support throughout the city, demanded justice and rules to protect workers in the future. The pressure led New York to create a commission to monitor factory safety.
“The role that strong unions could have in helping prevent such tragedies became clear,” a website devoted to the fire says. “Workers organized in powerful unions would be more conscious of their rights and better able to obtain safe working conditions.”
Over the years, unions have fought and won many battles for workers’ health and safety. Today, we have strong building and fire codes. We have laws to protect workers from exposure to lead and asbestos. We have rules making it safer for workers to operate dangerous machinery and handle hazardous materials.
But there’s a lot more work to do. Each year, more than 60,000 workers die from job injuries and illnesses and another 6 million are injured. This year, as they do every year, CWA locals and many other unions honored fallen workers on April 28, Workers’ Memorial Day.
They gather in hopes of never having another day of mourning like the one described by writer Martha Bensley Bruere after the Triangle Fire:
“For two hours they have been going steadily by… thousands and thousands of working men and women carrying the banners of their trades through the long three-mile tramp in the rain. Never have I seen a military pageant or triumphant ovation so impressive; for it is not because 146 workers were killed in the Triangle shop—not altogether.
“It is because every year there are 50,000 working men and women killed in the United States — 136 a day; almost as many as happened to be killed together on the 25th of March; and because slowly, very slowly, it is dawning on these thousands on thousands that such things do not have to be!”
Background and quotes for this story came from a Cornell University website dedicated to the Triangle Factory fire. Read more by going to www.ilr.cornell.edu/trianglefire.
What the Heck is 'Ergonomics'?
“Ergonomics” is a big word that’s being used a lot lately. So what does it mean?
It’s a scientific term that means adapting machines, vehicles and work spaces to the needs of a human body. Good ergonomics means you don’t have to strain your back or shoulders by reaching too far or lifting too much. It means your computer keyboard and chair are set at a height that’s right for you. It means your mouse and keyboard are designed so your wrists and arms don’t ache and your hands don’t cramp.
Poor ergonomics causes nearly 2 million injuries every year, and that’s a big concern for CWA and other unions. A lot of the injuries — about 600,000 — are severe, and many require surgery. Some workers become crippled. Their hands and wrists are so damaged they can’t button their shirts or tie their shoes or even hold their children.
Ergonomic injuries usually develop over a long period of time. Years of typing on a keyboard for eight hours a day without proper equipment and adequate breaks can hurt your body, even if you don’t feel it at first.
People who work at manufacturing jobs and in chicken and other food-processing plants report many disabling injuries. They must work extremely fast, standing in the same place for hours at a time. In some poultry plants, workers have to reach high to pull chickens off a conveyer belt. They do it hundreds of times a day, and their bodies pay the price.
Unions want employers to make changes to protect workers. That could mean adjustable chairs and keyboards for office workers and lowering and slowing conveyer belts in poultry plants.
Some companies have made excellent progress in ergonomics. They know that keeping their workers healthy is good for business. But many employers haven’t made improvements. Unions believe state and federal laws could help protect workers.
A federal rule that addressed many of the unions’ concerns was reversed after President George W. Bush took office. But unions aren’t giving up the fight for a new rule.
“Nothing is more important than making sure our members — and our future members — are safe at work,” CWA President Morton Bahr says.