PRIOR TO 1911
In the early 20th century, New York City was home to tens of thousands of factories across a variety of industries. The labor force was composed of unskilled workers who had immigrated to the United States from Southern and Eastern Europe. Many were Catholics or Yiddish-speaking Jews. They entered the country through Ellis Island and crowded into neighborhoods on the Lower East Side. Entire families had to work long hours in order to support themselves.
Immigrants worked in factories under grueling conditions. Six days a week, twelve hours a day, for pay that just barely allowed them to afford food and rent. This picture shows how hundreds of workers were crammed into rooms every day. Workplace safety laws did exist, but they failed to account for all possible hazards, and they were never strictly enforced. Many factory workers risked their lives when they went to work because deadly accidents were commonplace.
As the number of families immigrating to America increased dramatically in the 19th century, so did the number of women working factories. But they could not find a place for themselves in existing unions, which continued to operate under the belief that a woman’s place was in the home, even though many of these women had to work in order to support their families. Men made up almost the entirety of union membership.
As progressivism and the suffrage movement grew in popularity, women garment workers formed the International Ladies Garment Workers Union (ILGWU). The ILGWU was one of the first unions to have a predominantly female membership. It was dedicated to improving working conditions for women employed in the garment industry. In 1909, the Women’s Trade Union League (WTUL), which was a progressive organization led by middle class white women, organized a small strike of garment workers at the Triangle factory. Soon, Clara Lemlich, a Ukrainian immigrant and member of the ILGWU, spoke in Yiddish and called for a general strike at a mass meeting. Thousands of garment workers across New York City went on strike, led by the ILGWU and supported by the WTUL. In 1910, the WTUL came to an agreement with factory owners that included better wages, improved working conditions, and shorter hours.
Song dedicated to the Uprising of 20,000
"Hail the waistmakers of nineteen nine,
Making their stand on the picket line,
Breaking the power of those who reign,
Pointing the way, smashing the chain."
Work at the Triangle factory was characterized by excessively long hours and terribly low wages. Of the nearly 500 employees employed before the time, most were making $7-$12 a week. In 2018, that would be about $3.67-$6.29 per hour.
Both owners were greatly opposed to unions, and while they eventually agreed to the deal that ended the Uprising of 20,000, they were never held responsible for actually implementing those changes. Workers at the Triangle factory continued to work long hours for little pay under poor conditions that saw little change even after the strike ended in 1910. The neglect of Blanck and Harris meant that the factory was ill prepared for the tragedy that was about to occur.
Max Blanck and Isaac Harris, both Jewish immigrants from Russia, founded the Triangle Shirtwaist Company in 1900. In 1902, they moved to the Asch building. By 1908, they were producing more than 1,000 shirtwaists a day and were dubbed the “Shirtwaist Kings.” The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory was not dissimilar from other garment factories of the time. It was located at 23-29 Washington Place in Manhattan. The factory occupied the top three floors of the Asch building. The building, shown below, was modern and state-of-the-art in the early 1900s.
