SAG-AFTRA Executive Vice President and New York Local President Rebecca Damon, labor leaders and elected officials including U.S. Rep. Jerry Nadler (N.Y.) gathered March 25 to observe the 108th anniversary of the horrific Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire that claimed 146 lives. Assembling at the site of the fire, one block east of the Washington Square, they were joined by descendants of the garment workers who perished in the second deadliest industrial disaster in New York City history, behind the 2001 World Trade Center terrorist attacks.
On March 25, 1911, employees of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory were finishing up their six-day work week when a fire broke out in a bin of clothing scraps on the eighth floor. Due to the absence of fire extinguishers and sprinklers, the flames quickly spread to the ninth and tenth floors. Panicked workers ran to the only fire escape available, causing it to collapse under their weight. Many were crushed as people stampeded to doors that opened the wrong way. A critical exit on the ninth floor had been locked by managers to prevent employees from taking unauthorized breaks, and the foreman carrying the keys left by another route. Fire trucks quickly arrived, but ladders did not extend beyond the sixth floor. Down below, a crowd of bystanders, including future Secretary of Labor Francis Perkins, watched in horror as people jumped to their deaths from the high windows to escape the inferno.
Ultimately, the owners were found not guilty on charges of manslaughter. Nonetheless, public outcry over the verdict and abhorrent working conditions galvanized the labor movement and led to the passage of workplace safety laws in New York state that served as a model for the rest of the country.
Top photo: New York Local President Rebecca Damon with first responders from FDNY Ladder Company 3.
A bell rang and a white flower was laid as the name of each of the 146 victims was called out.
SAG-AFTRA members Catherine Taormina and Nick Addeo with New York Local President Rebecca Damon. Taormina is the great-grandniece of Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire victim Catherine Uzzo.
Faced with the choice of either burning alive or dying on impact, many garment workers leaped from the top three floors of the then-named Asch building. Life nets held by the firemen were torn by the impact of the falling bodies.
New York Local President Rebecca Damon and U.S. Rep. Jerry Nadler (N.Y.). During his speech, Nadler outlined myriad workplace safety lapses — from locked doors to lack of sprinklers — that contributed to the second-deadliest workplace disaster in New York City history, after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
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