Remembering the Factory Fire That Started New York's Labor Movement

The anniversary of the historic factory fire that birthed the labor movement in New York City rests on Saturday, March 25. New Yorkers gathered outside the site of the old factory to commemorate the 146 workers, mostly immigrant women of Italian and Jewish descent, who lost their lives at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory by Washington Square Park.

 

The factory operated on the eigth, ninth, and tenth floors of a building on Washington Place, which is now a part of New York University's campus. Union rights groups and even family members of the fire's victims gathered outside the building. 

 

Long Island resident Don Weiner arrived with a sign featuring a blown-up picture of his great-aunt who worked in the factory. 

 

"This is a picture of Rosie Weiner. It's undated--we don't know exactly when--but we know she was engaged in the picture. She was probably about 19 or 20 years-old," said Weiner.

 

Weiner said his great-aunt died in the factory fire. Her sister Katie, Don Weiner's other great-aunt, was 16 years-old and also worked at the factory.  

 

"[Katie] was the last person to come out of the building," said Weiner. "She slid down nine floors on the elevator cable. The elevator had already gone down and she missed it. So she slid down on the cable and landed on people's heads."

 

Katie Weiner's death-defying slide down the elevator cable was one of the few ways out of the building. Because of a common practice at the time where employers locked the doors so workers didn't steal factory material, many women died trying to force their way out. 

 

Attending the memorial for the past six years, Don Weiner said he keeps returning to tell his family's stories and remind people about the importance of worker's rights.

 

"I'm here representing the Weiner family and representing all the other families who had people who perished," said Weiner. "This can never happen again. Not just in this country, but everywhere in the world. A few years ago, this exact same thing happened in Bangladesh, it happens in China. We have to protect the workers."