Wednesday March 25th marked 115 years since the tragic Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire that claimed the lives of 146 people in 1911. The fire marked a pivotal point in US history for the improvement of worker’s rights.
Around 200 people attended the commemoration for the victims that was held on Wednesday at the location of the factory on Washington Place & Greene Street. The deceased mostly included young immigrant women with the youngest victim being just fourteen years old.
The event was led by Edgar Romney, Secretary-Treasurer of Workers United/SEIU, and featured words from various organizations. A fire truck ladder was raised after the singing of the National anthem to the 6th floor of the building; the highest point that it could reach in 1911, despite the fire engulfing the 8th, 9th, and 10th floors.
Flowers could be laid at the site of the fire by onlookers after the names of the victims were read out.
Among the speakers in attendance on Wednesday was Thomas Currao, NYPD Chief of Fire Prevention, who shared the FDNY’s response to the tragedy; “What made this particular fire so incredibly sad, like so many others that we witness, was its preventability and foreseeability.” He continued: “But due to the owners’ desire to put business and profits over the safety of occupants, many of these immigrant women working here were not provided with the basis of a safe workplace, and many met a very tragic fate.”
Currao spoke about how the fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory led to the founding of the FDNY bureau of fire prevention on March 16th, 1912, which would see the foundation of the enforcement of new fire & building codes. He concluded with a message to his fellow fire service colleagues; “You are the guardians against those who may prioritize profits over
people and who will not put life safety first, just as the owners of the Triangle Shirtwaist company did so many years ago.”
Roberta Reardon, NYS Commissioner of Labor, spoke of the importance as well as the tremendous work that various unions have achieved in workplace reforms, citing the existence of her own union, among others, as a result of the Triangle Fire; “My union was created in 1916 [...] and all of these unions are about creating safety measures so this will never happen again.”
Romney then introduced Julie Soo, NYC Deputy Mayor for Economic Justice, a position, as she stated, was created by Mayor Mamdani upon his election last year.
Soo had attended the 2023 commemoration for the Fire when then, she was the acting U.S. Secretary of Labor for President Biden, “but today”, she continues “I join you as a fellow New Yorker.”
Soo discussed the “basic right to come home, healthy and safe after the workshift every day” and the “knowledge that one medical bill or job lost will not mean that you lose everything.”
On the importance and meaning of economic justice, Soo voiced how we are not "just trying to prevent the next tragedy” but rather allow the freedom from the “poverty, and the conditions that force these women into a factory with locked doors and no fire escape.”
“It means real security for immigrants, for women, for working people, for all” because “Economic justice means strong labor unions” and “Union protections help not only union workers, but lifts up standards for everyone” including increased minimum wages, paid time off, and health and safety protections that benefit all workers.
Touching again on the fact that the majority of those killed were young, immigrant women from Italian and Jewish descent, Soo spoke on how they faced “not just deplorable conditions in their workplace, but also discrimination and anti Semitism in their neighborhoods”.
As Commissioner Reardon put it; “We are called on to not just remember, but to act, to organize for safe and dignified workplaces; to fight against cruel and callous immigration policies; to ensure that every child in America has a safe and welcoming school; to ensure that workers have living wages and decent healthcare and secure retirement.”
“When I say we not only remember, but we act, that must be emblazoned in everything we do.”
In 2023, New York City dedicated the location of the fire as a memorial site (designed by Richard Joon Yoo and Uri Wegman) for those who perished in the blaze. People can learn of the story of the fire and read the names and ages of the victims in English, Yiddish, or Italian.