The tragedy served as a catalyst and major turning point for
garment worker struggles
in the United States, and the resulting rise-up underscored the importance of a union’s collective bargaining power to secure safe working conditions and fair wages in the industry.
What were the effects of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire?
One of the most horrific tragedies in American manufacturing history occurred in the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in 1911 when a
ferocious fire spread with lightning speed through a New York City garment shop
, resulting in the deaths of 146 people and injuring many more.
Why was the Triangle factory so important?
On March 25, 1911, the Triangle Shirtwaist Company factory in New York City burned, killing 146 workers. … The tragedy brought widespread attention to
the dangerous sweatshop conditions of factories
, and led to the development of a series of laws and regulations that better protected the safety of workers.
What reforms came from the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire?
Three months later, John Alden Dix, then the governor of New York, signed a law empowering the Factory Investigating Committee, which resulted in
eight more laws covering fire safety, factory inspection, and sanitation and employment rules for women and children
.
What did the Triangle factory produce?
Under the ownership of Max Blanck and Isaac Harris, the factory produced
women’s blouses
, known as “shirtwaists”.
What floor did the fire start in the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory?
One hundred years ago on March 25, fire spread through the cramped Triangle Waist Company garment factory on
the 8th, 9th and 10th floors
of the Asch Building in lower Manhattan. Workers in the factory, many of whom were young women recently arrived from Europe, had little time or opportunity to escape.
Who were the Triangle workers?
Many of the Triangle factory workers were
women
, some as young as 14 years old. They were, for the most part, recent Italian and European Jewish immigrants who had come to the United States with their families to seek a better life. Instead, they faced lives of grinding poverty and horrifying working conditions.
What was the main factor that contributed to the loss of life in the Triangle?
Years before the Triangle fire,
garment workers actively sought to improve their working conditions
—including locked exits in high-rise buildings—that led to the deaths at Triangle. In fall 1909, as factory owners pressed shirtwaist makers to work longer hours for less money, several hundred workers went on strike.
Who was responsible for the Triangle Shirtwaist fire?
In the end, no one truly bore sole responsibility for the deaths of 146 employees at the Triangle Shirtwaist factory.
Isaac Harris and Max Blanck
were acquitted for manslaughter and were later brought back to court for civil suits. They eventually settled and paid $75 per death.
What changes occurred in the aftermath of the tragedy?
What changes occurred in the aftermath of the tragedy.
Citizens pushed lawmakers to make building safer, NYC established a bureau to inspect safety standards and NYC had investigators report on safety conditions in factories and tenements
.
How could the Triangle Shirtwaist fire be prevented?
For example, had
the ladder been long enough to reach the top three floors and the water pressure strong enough to reach the floors
, many of the victims could have survived the event. A few years after the incident, the fire department developed a stronger water pump and added an extra ladder as a precaution.
What was the result of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire quizlet?
Terms in this set (5)
(pg 582), a fire in New York’s Triangle Shirtwaist Company in
1911 killed 146 people, mostly women
. They died because the doors were locked and the windows were too high for them to get to the ground. Dramatized the poor working conditions and let to federal regulations to protect workers.
Who is Isaac Harris?
When Isaac Harris and Max Blanck met in New York City in their twenties, they shared a common story. Born in Russia, both men had immigrated to the United States in the early 1890s, and, like hundreds of thousands of other Jewish immigrants, they had both begun working in the garment industry.
What changes were shirtwaist workers agitating?
At the end of September 1909, with the backing of Local 25 of the International Ladies Garment Workers Union (ILGWU) the Triangle Shirtwaist factory workers went
on strike seeking increased wages, reduced working hours and union representation
. Conditions were no better at other factories.
What did Harris and Blanck do with the insurance money?
“Despite these struggles, the two men ultimately collected a large chunk of insurance money—$60,000 more than the fire had actually cost them in damages. Harris and
Blanck had made a profit from the fire of $400 per victim
.”
