Triangle Waist Company

317 Words2 Pages
1. The Triangle Waist Company occupied the eighth, ninth, and tenth floors of a building in New York City. This company produced women’s blouses under the leadership of Max Blanck and Isaac Harris. They employed about 500 workers, in which most were young immigrant women who worked up to nine hours a day earning around 10 dollars per week. It was concluded that the most likely cause of the fire was the disposal of an extinguished match or cigarette butt in the scrap bin. Since the fabric was extremely flammable, the fire spread quite quickly. 150 women died in the fire because the door was locked and very few escaped from the stairs or elevator. This devastating tragedy was caused by the factory owners. There wouldn’t have been any deaths if the building had proper workplace conditions and safety precautions. However, Blanck and Harris were later indicated by a grand jury and acquitted because it could not be proven that the doors were deliberately locked. The International Ladies Garment Workers Union was affected by this unfortunate event because they began pushing for better working conditions for sweatshop workers. 2. The main cause of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire was a violation of sensible safety measures, for example the doors being locked by the owners. This made escaping the fire nearly impossible. Politicians and labor unions were able to force through reforms, despite claims that such reforms were illegal. As the Unions and their allies pushed for reform, they gained great public support. A progressive reform era of reform was born as a result of this horrific incident. The fire was the cause for the adoption of fire safety codes in later buildings and required usable exits in case of any accidents such as a fire. The National Relations Act of 1935 protected worker’s rights to organize and strike, and required business to participate in

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