Triangle Factory ceremony a 'chance to renew pledge to protect workers'

Labor advocates, union members and families gathered at the corner of Greene Street and Washington Place on Tuesday to honor the 146 workers who died in the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire 114 years ago.

The workers, who were predominantly Italian and Jewish immigrants, were commemorated during a ceremony held by the Remember the Triangle Fire Coalition and the New York City Central Labor Coalition. The garment workers were trapped by a fire that rapidly consumed the eighth floor, spreading to the ninth and 10th floors of the Asch building, and were unable to escape because their bosses kept the exit doors locked to prevent them from taking breaks.

“Many people out there think this is history and this doesn’t happen any more. But all of us know that still today, too often, corporate profits are valued over human lives and workers are put at terrible risk,” Terri Gerstein, the director of Wagner Labor Initiative at New York University’s Graduate School of Public Service, said during the ceremony, which is held annually.  

She continued, “Extreme heat kills hundreds of workers every year, warehouses with unreasonable quotas ... with inhumane expectations that cause serious injuries. We’ve had children in the past couple of years working in car factories, in poultry and meatpacking plants, where no child should ever be working. And on top of all this, we know that the federal government is right now being dismantled by a billionaire. But in the face of all of this, my message is one of hope, because workers are fighting for change.”

Ruth Sergel, founder of the Remember the Triangle Fire Coalition, spoke of the labor law advancements made in the years after the fire.

“The people standing where we stand today could do nothing in that moment to save those workers. But they took that pain, and that rage, and they transferred it into energy, and they created change. They got the New Deal, they strengthened the union movement, they got fire and safety laws which protect us to this day,” she said during the ceremony.

Several advocates and union members likened those efforts to current movements to protect workers, such as postal workers’ rallying against potential plans by the Trump administration to privatize the United States Postal Service.

“The doors are still locked, but today, they’re using executive orders. We won’t go back,” said Jonathan Smith, the president of the New York Metro Area Postal Workers Union. “Our weapon is unity. We must stand together.”

State Labor Commissioner Roberta Reardon highlighted new labor laws enacted by Governor Kathy Hochul in recent years, including the Retail Worker Safety Act, which aims to protect retail workers from violence on the job, as well as guidance introduced last year to safeguard outdoor workers from extreme heat.

“Today, we mourn the 146 workers tragically killed 114 years ago. But we also marvel at the millions of lives that have been saved since the fire, thanks to the strong laws and regulations in place to protect our workforce,” Reardon said. “Our agency remains vigilant inspecting worksites and investigating hazard complaints to ensure that workers statewide make it back to their families at night, safe and sound, unlike the unfortunate victims of this tragedy.”

Tatter, a Brooklyn-based nonprofit textile arts organization, unveiled an embroidered banner honoring the deceased workers, which 150 stitchers around the world helped create. 

During the commemoration each year, the Fire Department’s Ladder 20 raises its ladder to the 10-story building’s sixth floor, the highest point the trucks could reach in 1911. FDNY Commissioner Robert Tucker believed that the anniversary of the fire was a chance to “renew a promise to make sure workers are safe.”

“In the FDNY, we learn from every tragedy and identify what went wrong and work hard to make sure it never happens again,” he said. “Part of that mission includes our great Bureau of Fire Prevention and so many of our fire prevention inspectors are here today. They work tirelessly to prevent fire, checking compliance with fire code and conducting mandatory safety inspections to ensure nothing like this ever happens again.”