On April 11, 1911 the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union (ILGWU), some journalists, and the public organized a strike to advocate for legal protection not just in ladies’ garment work, but in all factories. ¹The ILGWU and many others organized a procession to mourn and bury seven unidentified victims, but city leaders feared that it would lead to violence. They never released the body to the organization or the public. ¹
The procession continued without the bodies as about 150,000 people marched and another 250,000 lined the streets to mourn. To many onlookers’ surprise, the strike was far from violent. No one shouted, chanted, or singed, they simply marched. ¹After the 1911 strike, The ILGWU continued to fight for justice. From 1911 and 1915, the Factory Investigation Commission (FIC) gathered enough information about the health and safety of New York workers to enact a remarkable slate of regulations dealing with fire safety, sanitation, dangerous trades, labor laws, and the protection of women and children.²Between 1915 and 1929, multiple factory health and safety statutes were generated. Among the many new regulations, explains Judy Greenwald, owners were required to install automatic sprinklers in high-risk buildings, unlock and mark exit doors, perform fire drills, and install outward-swinging door hinges. 1. Heather. Pool, “The Politics of Mourning: The Triangle Fire and Political Belonging,”
Polity 44, no. 2 (2012): 198-99.
2. Marcia L. McCormick, “Consensus, Dissensus, and Enforcement: Legal Protection of Working Women from the Time of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire to Today,”
New York University Journal of Legislation and Public Policy 14, no. 3 (March 2011): 645-95.
