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HospitalityPress Center
For Immediate Release
March 26, 2007
Anna Oman
212-265-7000 ext. 4380
UNITE HERE Leads City in Commemorating 1911 Triangle Fire
96 Years after Tragedy, Service Honors Workers’ Lives Lost, Recognizes Continued DangersNEW YORK, Mar. 26 – UNITE HERE, the New York City Fire Department, city officials, workers and school children commemorated the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire of 1911 that claimed the lives of 146 immigrant garment workers, most of whom were young women.
Among those officials who came to mark the anniversary of the tragedy were His Eminence, Edward Cardinal Egan, Archbishop of New York; UNITE HERE General President Bruce Raynor; New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn; Nicholas Scoppetta, New York City Fire Commissioner; New York City Comptroller William Thompson; Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer; and Patricia Smith, Commissioner of the New York State Department of Labor.
The fire at Triangle Waist Company, located in New York City’s Greenwich Village, was one of the worst industrial tragedies in our nation’s history, and, until September 11, 2001, it was the city’s deadliest workplace disaster. Fire broke out on the afternoon of March 25, 1911 and within minutes had spread to consume the building’s upper three stories. Firefighters who arrived at the scene were unable to rescue workers trapped inside because the doors were locked and their ladders could not reach the factory floor.
During today’s ceremony, a New York City fire officer sounded a bell, as students and workers read the name of, and placed a flower for, each victim of the Triangle Fire. The New York City Fire Department then slowly raised a fire truck ladder to the highest point such a ladder could reach in 1911.
The tragedy marked a turning point in the city’s fire safety efforts and in the struggle by workers to organize for safer, more just working conditions. It remains significant to this day, highlighting dangerous, inhumane conditions that workers continue to face.
The ceremony focused special attention on the fact that the horrors of the Triangle fire epitomize the vulnerability of modern-day workers. Parallels were drawn between the incident and recent workplace tragedies including incidents at a Texas refinery that left 15 workers dead, a coal mine in West Virgina that claimed the lives of 12 miners, and Cintas’ Tulsa plant that took the life of employee Eleazar Torres-Gomez this month.
“In 1911, the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory exemplified the poor working conditions new immigrants encountered – poverty wages, repetitive work in depressing conditions, with numerous health and safety violations. Unfortunately, these are the same conditions that many of our workers face today as new immigrants to this country,” explained Raynor. He was joined by Randi Weingarten, President of the United Federation of Teachers and Ed Ott, Executive Director of the New York City Central Labor Council, along with members of a number of area union locals.
As Thompson stressed, “Today is a day to look back and look ahead,” adding that “the memory of the brave Triangle Shirtwaist Factory workers should remind all of us of the importance of protecting workers. But sadly, even today, workers do not always have the workplace protections that they need and deserve. We must recommit ourselves to ensure the health and safety of the hardworking men and women of our great city.”
"The tragedy that took place here 96 years ago was the result of callous indifference by employers and government," said Quinn, echoing this sentiment. "Today, many working people continue to toil under poverty wages, without healthcare, working - and increasingly living - in unsafe conditions. We cannot wait for another tragedy - we must strive to do better for the working men and women that make our City and our country run."
UNITE HERE represents approximately 450,000 workers in the hospitality, gaming, food service, laundry and garment and manufacturing industries in the United States and Canada.
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