The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory was a sweatshop in the Asch building in Manhattan, New York. There were around 500 employees that worked there, they had long hours, the conditions of working there were unsafe and their wages were very low. The employees were young immigrant women who did not understand or speak the English language.
The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire was a tragedy that occured on March 25, 1911. It was caused by a cigarette button, perhaps, it started in a bin of cotton scraps. The working conditions were so unsafe that a sprinkler system was not installed, therefore the fire spread quickly. There were only a couple of ways out, a fire escape that collapsed, the elevator that broke down after 4 trips and unfortunately jumping through the window. The exit door was locked from the inside, another way to get out. Unfortunately the fire hose reached to the 7th floor because the fire department wasn’t advanced in technology. 144 people died in the factory and later 2 more people died in the hospital. Due to this tragedy a protest took place on April 5, 1911. The American industrial workplaces were redefined, the law called Sullivan-Hoey Fire Prevention was passed. The sprinklers system was demanded, fire exits must remain open at all times, the fair labor standards act was created in 1938. Minimum wage laws and time and a half for overtime.
The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire was a tragedy that we hope people learned from but unfortunately that is not ture. On December 14, 2010 at the Hummin factory a fire broke out. Exit doors were locked and workers jumped out to have a body to be buried by their families. 29 workers were killed, over 100 workers injured and twenty six were hospitalized. Management paid the families as compensation. These workers are getting paid 28 cents an hour, 1/10 of what wages were 100 years ago. The workers at Bangladesh protested to get 35 cents an hour but were beaten, shot with rubber bullets and a die in the water was put so they can be arrested later.
ERA
The second part of this week’s reading is how the state of Virginia became the 38th state to pass the Equal Rights Amendment. The amendment was passed originally in 1972 by congress.The Equal Rights Amendment is the rights shall not be denied to anyone due to their sex, Congress shall have power to enforce the law and the amendment shall take effect two years after meaning in 1974. The amendment was originally written in 1923 but was not passed. It was not passed because it divided women from different classes. The Equal Rights Amendment was proposed by Alice Paul, she was the founder of the National’s Woman’s party. The National’s Women’s party formed protests, petitions to fight for the right to vote. In 1920 women had the right to vote and due to gaining the right they moved on to the next step. An Equal Rights Amendment was not passed and a deadline for ratification was extended. Once the deadline was close only 35 states passed this amendment. The states that the amendment was not passed had poor interest in protecting people of color and women.
