Triangle Shirtwaist Labor In The 1920's

“Working Women and the Triangle Fire” by Elizabeth Burt begins by providing detailed information about hard-working, exploited women in the labor force. The article describes previous attempts of women factory workers to organize to protest injustice, and also explains that “the press had sporadically covered these attempts” (Burt 190). Next, the author provides specific examples of the work of journalists who wrote about frustrated women workers, but states that these articles mainly appeared in the women’s sections of newspapers. Workers had the most success by participating in labor actions (Burt 190). The article describes that when the press covered most labor movements, focus was placed on negotiations, violence, or the character of the

Anne Morgan was the daughter of J.P Morgan; she helped keep the strike on the front page of the newspapers and gave the strikers hope. The mink brigade was other wealthy or socially privileged woman who helped the cause of the strikers. With this help the strikers weren’t being brutally beaten as often and by December some factories had given into striker demands. What caused Anne Morgan and mink brigadiers to reconsider their position was the refusal of better pay and fewer work hours, but without union only shops. Anne Morgan and others felt that this was an attack on their social status and way of life, she resigned from the strike union along with others.

The progressive era can be defined as a time of political reform that swept across the United States from city to city in order for workers in factories, such as the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory, to be given better working conditions. Many major cities across the United States took place in the Progressive Movement but one city was a major contributor to the era. This city was none other than New York City. The major players during the New York Progressive movement were people that were parts of Tammany Hall, Middle-class women reformers, and the outcome from the Triangle Shirtwaist factory fire. Tammany Hall (often described as a political machine) was a group of politicians that resided in New York City, and that were often associated with

In Out of Sight, Erik Loomis chooses to begin his work with the Triangle Shirtwaist factory and continues with the Rana Plaza Factory collapsing in Bangladesh. Both of these disasters caused several people to lose their lives, especially women, because of safety issues. In 1911, the Triangle Shirtwaist factory caught on fire in NYC and 146 female garment workers died, therefore; there were changes to the labor laws in the United States. The United States Department of Labor classified a set of standards as the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). “Factories rarely, if ever, receive even a minimal safety inspection.”

During this time period of the 20th century, the number of strikes skyrocketed and this became the worker's main way of fighting back for their rights. “‘Strikes are mere incidents in the class war; they are tests of strength, periodical drills in the course of which the workers train themselves for concerted action. This training is most necessary to prepare the masses for the final ‘catastrophe’ the general strike which will complete the expropriation of the employers” (331). Some of the work conditions that the workers faced were “‘... dangerously broken stairways… windows few and so dirty… The wooden floors that were

The waistmakers protested peacefully. Hundreds were arrested, including WTUL president Mary Dreier for discouraging strikebreakers from working in the factories. The women never utilized violent techniques, nor did they retaliate against the police arresting them. Instead, they forced the shops to listening to their demands by striking strategically and in such a strong force; by striking during the busy season, shops were desperate for employees and some were willing to agree to union demands. William Mailly, a writer sympathetic to the strikers, wrote on the strike: “The strike has been inspired by women; it is mainly women who have done the picketing, been arrested, fined, run the risk of assault, received ill-treatment from police and police courts alike, and shown themselves eager to sacrifice without stint to bring about better conditions in the shops and factories.”

Before the war, it was not likely for women to work in factories. However, by 1945, women made up one third of all industrial workers. This was a big change for women, because women usually only worked at home

Labor and the US Government from 1890-1945 A key aspect of this nation’s history lies in the ever-shifting relationship between its government and its common man, most specifically its labor workers. This relationship plays a crucial role in the understanding of the changes that took place in America between 1890 and 1945. The changing relationship between government and labor workers in the United States between 1890 and 1945 demonstrates a period of unrest and a transitional period in which the focus shifted towards the working class as a result of the greed and corruption of 19th century business elite , as can be seen in the labor strikes requiring government intervention of the late 19th century, the progressives of the early 20th century

Although not every change occurred as briskly as desired, both groups helped to attain the rights they deemed necessary for themselves as well as future generations. Because of the hard work of these men and women that fought for worker’s rights in the 1800s, it is now more possible to live off modern salaries and workers have the drive needed and the right role models to fight for what they want out of their job benefits

The opening phrase on ‘Labor’ in history.com reads like this : “The labor movement in the United States grew out of the need to protect the common interest of workers. For those in the industrial sector, organized labor unions fought for better wages, reasonable hours and safer working conditions. The labor movement led efforts to stop child labor, give health benefits and provide aid to workers who were injured or retired.” The factors that led to the rise of labor unions:

It is a difficult task to challenge the social and economic policies of a country, especially one as patriotic as the United States during the post wartime Red scare era of the 1920 's. labor unions could account for this as they saw their membership fall from a high of 5 million in the 1920s to a mere 3.6 million by 1923(Rosenzweig 353). A combination of Supreme court decisions, Employer pressures and in many cases a lack of a strong leadership seen in previous individuals like Samuel Gompers contributed to this. Yet this trend surprisingly didn’t remain consistent as the great depression emerged around the 1930s. In fact they tripled there membership during the 1930s(Rosenzweig 429).They opened up, recruiting millions of women in their causes

Many believed in the traditional idea that the workplace was for men only and used the refusal of recognition as a form of protest. Some women refused to go into the work force for this very reason. For those that did however, did so out of patriotism for the war and because of the lack of opportunity. There was a mix between the two. In the text, most women were there for lack of opportunity because they were high school dropouts.

Another result of the Triangle Factory fire that resulted in change in the American workplace was the attempts of labor unions and strikes. Prior to the fire, in 1909, one of the more notable strikes dubbed the "Uprising of 20,000" was organized primarily by female immigrant garment workers because of the awful conditions, long hours, and low wages they were made to work in due to the lack of options available to them (Pool, 2012). The primary challenge was to get attention paid to the mistreatment of immigrant workers. While there were short term agreements for their demands, the strike ultimately failed, however where it did succeed was exposing poor working conditions and stirring a debate about what counted as public and private (Pool,

This angered many women, so Pankhurst established the Women’s Social and Political Union to empower women in Europe. The unification became recognized as the Suffragettes. Members of this group were ready to use forcefulness to achieve what they pursued. Though they didn’t use violence as a first choice, they went on hunger strikes in prison. The government was alarmed that

Child labor during the 18th and 19th century did not only rapidly develop an industrial revolution, but it also created a situation of difficulty and abuse by depriving children of edjucation, good physical health, and the proper emotional wellness and stability. In the late 1700 's and early 1800 's, power-driven machines replaced hand labor for making most manufactured items. Many of America 's factories needed a numerous amount of workers for a cheap salary. Because of this, the amount of child laborers have been growing rapidly over the early 1800s.