Senate Resolution No. 4390

BY: Senator ALCANTARA

commemorating the 107th Anniversary of the
Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire on March 25, 2018

WHEREAS, It is the sense of this Legislative Body to commemorate the
107th Anniversary of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire on March 25,
2018; and

WHEREAS, It is the further intent of this Legislative Body to
recognize the ongoing efforts of Workers United/SEIU (formerly the
International Ladies' Garment Workers Union), in striving to make
working conditions for the American people the safest in the world; and

WHEREAS, Each year, Workers United/SEIU, together with the New York
City Fire Department and the United Federation of Teachers, commemorates
the anniversary of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire at the original
site of the tragedy with a wreath, speeches and the laying of 146
flowers in honor of the fire victims; members of Ladder Company 20, the
first to respond to the fire, toll their bell and raise their ladder to
the sixth floor; and

WHEREAS, With the terrible attack on our Nation of September 11,
2001, still so painfully fresh in our hearts and minds, it is more
important than ever that we reflect on the strength and heritage of our
great country; we owe a debt of gratitude and remembrance to our
immigrant forebears and, while the Triangle toll was a grievous wound
for our Jewish and Italian grandparents and ancestors, all should join
together to record, remember and memorialize the sacrifices and courage
of all the immigrants who built this nation so that their children and
descendants would reap the rewards of their achievements and enjoy the
benefits of life and liberty in America, the greatest country in the
world; and

WHEREAS, At the turn of the century, urban working conditions in the
United States were appalling; no place else were these conditions more
deplorable than in New York's garment industry; here, young women,
mostly recent immigrants, toiled from dawn to dusk; in the winter of
1909, a strike was organized; the Union believed that if it could get
3,000 workers to go out on strike, the strike would be successful;
amazingly, 20,000 women, including workers from the Triangle Shirtwaist
Factory, joined the strike, but despite their courageous efforts,
conditions in the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory did not improve; and

WHEREAS, By the early 1890s, shirtwaists were being made in modern
factories, at long rows of sewing machines powered by electricity; Max
Blanck and Isaac Harris, owners of the million-dollar Triangle
Shirtwaist Co., with operations in New York and Philadelphia, were "the
shirtwaist kings"; their biggest factory occupied the top three floors
of a new, fireproof building, a block from Washington Square in New York
and employed approximately 600 people; and

WHEREAS, The employees were putting on their hats and coats at
quitting time on Saturday, March 25, 1911, when someone noticed smoke
curling from the long rag bin under the cutting tables along the windows

on the eighth floor; the month's accumulation of linen and muslin scraps
caught fire, then the fabric that was laid out on the tables, then the
paper patterns strung open on the wire about them, then the big wicker
baskets full of bundled work that stood by each sewing machine; and

WHEREAS, There were no sprinklers; only three weeks before, an
association of property owners had met to oppose the fire department's
campaign to require them; and

WHEREAS, In the Triangle Fire, all but one of the terrified
seamstresses and cutters on the eighth floor escaped, whether by one of
the two small elevators or down one of the building's two narrow
stairways, each wide enough for only one person to descend at a time;
somebody telephoned a warning to the executives on the 10th floor, where
the fire quickly spread, and many from the offices and the pressing and
shipping rooms on the 10th floor, including the shirtwaist owners
themselves, caught an elevator or escaped over the roof; and

WHEREAS, Tragically, nobody told the ninth floor; by the time they
knew, they were caught between fires above and below them; some ran for
the elevators, others for the doors to the stairs; one set of doors was
locked to keep girls from leaving early; the doors to the other stairway
opened inward, and almost immediately the terrified crush made it
impossible to open them; soon the stairs were cut off by the fire; and

WHEREAS, The elevator operators did their best, each making seven or
eight trips through smoke and flames, but as the fire grew, it forced
one after another of the desperate waiting crowds of girls and young
women to leap into the open shaft, until finally the elevators could not
rise because they were jammed by bodies; and

WHEREAS, The rest of the ninth-floor workers were forced to the
windows; they stood on the ledges as long as they could, waiting for the
fire ladders, but the city's longest ladder reached only to the sixth
floor, and as the fire reached out the windows after them, they began to
jump, many holding hands, to their deaths on the sidewalks and fences
below; and

WHEREAS, The date March 25th holds a special significance for all
working people because of this tragic Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire
in New York City that took the lives of 146 garment workers, a tragedy
that occurred on March 25, 1911; and

WHEREAS, Research has determined that the majority of the tragic
victims were Jewish and Italian immigrants; and

WHEREAS, Among those lost were many sisters, mothers, daughters and
family groups, including Mrs. Caterina Maltese, and her daughters, Lucia
and Rosaria; and

WHEREAS, Recent research has determined the names and ages of the
handful of previously unidentified victims; and

WHEREAS, The complete list now includes: Lizzie Adler (24 years
old), Anna Altman (16), Annina Ardito (25), Rose Bassino (31, sister of
Catherine Giannattasio), Vincenza Benanti (22), Yetta Berger (18), Essie
Bernstein (19), Jacob Bernstein (38), Morris Bernstein (19), Gussie
Bierman (22), Vincenza Biliota (16), Abraham Binowitz (30), Rosie

Brenman (23, sister of Sarah Brenman), Sarah Brenman (17), Ida Brodsky
(15), Sarah Brodsky (21), Ada Brooks (18), Laura Brunetti (17),
Josephine Cammarata (17), Francesca Caputo (17), Josephine Carlisi (31),
Albina Caruso (20), Annie Ciminello (36), Rosina Cirrito (18), Anna
Cohen (25), Annie Colletti (30), Sarah Cooper (16), Michelina Cordiano
(25), Bessie Dashefsky (25), Josie Del Castillo (21), Clara Dockman
(19), Kalman Donick (24), Celia Eisenberg (17), Dora Evans (18), Rebecca
Feibisch (20), Yetta Fichtenholtz (18), Daisy Lopez Fitze (26), Mary
Floresta (26), Max Florin (23), Jennie Franco (16), Rose Friedman (18),
Molly Gerstein (17), Catherine Giannattasio (22, sister of Rose
Bassino), Celia Gitlin (17), Esther Goldstein (20), Lena Goldstein (22,
sister of Mary Goldstein), Mary Goldstein (18), Yetta Goldstein (20),
Rosie Grasso (16), Bertha Greb (25), Diana Gerjuoy (18), Rachel Grossman
(18), Mary Herman (40), Esther Hochfeld (21), Fannie Hollander (18),
Pauline Horowitz (19), Ida Jukofsky (19), Ida Kanowitz (18), Tessie
Kaplan (18), Beckie Kessler (19), Jacob Klein (23), Beckie Koppelman
(16), Bertha Kula (19), Tillie Kupferschmidt (16), Benjamin Kurtz (19),
Annie L'Abbate (16), Fannie Lansner (21), Maria Giuseppa Lauletti (33,
sister of Isabella Tortorelli), Jennie Lederman (21), Max Lehrer (18,
brother of Sam Lehrer), Sam Lehrer (19), Kate Leone (14), Mary Leventhal
(22), Jennie Levin (19), Pauline Levine (19), Nettie Liebowitz (23),
Rose Liermark (19), Bettina Maiale (18, sister of Frances Maiale),
Frances Maiale (21), Caterina Maltese (39, mother of Lucia and Rosaria
Maltese), Lucia Maltese (20), Rosaria Maltese (14), Maria Manaria (27),
Rose Mankofsky (22), Rose Mehl (15), Yetta Meyers (19), Gaetana Midolo
(16), Annie Miller (16), Beckie Neubauer (19), Annie Nicholas (18),
Michelina Nicolosi (21), Sadie Nussbaum (18), Julia Oberstein (19), Rose
Oringer (19), Beckie Ostrovsky (20), Annie Pack (18), Provindenza Panno
(43), Antonietta Pasqualicchio (16), Ida Pearl (20), Jennie Pildescu
(18), Vincenza Pinelli (30), Emilia Prato (21), Concetta Prestifilippo
(22), Beckie Reines (18), Fannie Rosen (21), Israel Rosen (17, son of
Julia Rosen), Julia Rosen (35), Louis Rosen (33), Yetta Rosenbaum (22),
Jennie Rosenberg (21), Gussie Rosenfeld (22), Nettie Rosenthal (21),
Emma Rothstein (22), Theodore Rotner (22), Sarah Sabasowitz (17),
Santina Salemi (24), Sarafina Saracino (25, sister of Teresina
Saracino), Teresina Saracino (20), Gussie Schiffman (18), Theresa
Schmidt (32), Ethel Schneider (20), Violet Schochet (21), Golda Schpunt
(19), Margaret Schwartz (24), Jacob Seltzer (33), Rosie Shapiro (17),
Ben Sklover (25), Rose Sorkin (18), Annie Starr (30), Jennie Stein (18),
Jennie Stellino (16), Jennie Stiglitz (22), Sam Taback (20), Clotilde
Terranova (22), Isabella Tortorelli (17), Meyer Utal (23), Catherine
Uzzo (22), Frieda Velakofsky (20), Bessie Viviano (15), Rosie Weiner
(19), Sarah Weintraub (17), Tessie Weisner (21), Dora Welfowitz (21),
Bertha Wendorff (18), Joseph Wilson (22) and Sonia Wisotsky (17); and

WHEREAS, This tragedy became the most vivid symbol of the need for
workplace safety and spawned the labor movement; the Factory
Investigating Commission was formed following the fire to study and make
recommendations on working conditions; this marked the beginning of
auspicious political careers for both the Chairman, Robert T. Wagner,
Sr., who went on to become a U.S. Senator, and its Vice Chairman, Alfred
E. Smith, who became New York State Governor; in addition, among the
investigating inspectors were Frances Perkins and Rose Schneiderman,
women who were pivotal in the history of American labor; the findings of
the Commission became the basis for far-reaching safety laws across the
nation and forged the New York State Department of Labor; the Triangle
Shirtwaist Factory Fire started a movement to fight sweatshops which
continues to this day; and


WHEREAS, The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire serves as a sad
reminder that worker safety laws are necessary to ensure a safe working
place for all Americans; we honor the memory of the 146 immigrant
victims of this calamity, and their loved ones, by remaining vigilant to
ensure that a similar tragedy never happens again; and

WHEREAS, Upon the occasion of the 107th Anniversary of the Triangle
Shirtwaist Factory Fire, it is the sense of this Legislative Body to
join with Workers United/SEIU, the New York State Department of Labor
and the New York State Legislature, in commemoration of a tragic event
of such meaningful significance to the history and purpose of the
American Labor Movement; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED, That this Legislative Body pause in its deliberations to
commemorate the 107th Anniversary of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory
Fire, and to acknowledge the efforts of Workers United/SEIU, Governor
Andrew M. Cuomo, Commissioner of Labor Roberta Reardon, and the New York
State Legislature; and be it further

RESOLVED, That copies of this Resolution, suitably engrossed, be
transmitted to Workers United/SEIU; Kenneth J. Munnelly, Chair of the
New York State Workers' Compensation Board; Daniel A. Nigro, New York
City Fire Commissioner; Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire Memorial
Society; Serphin Maltese; New York State Commissioner of Labor Roberta
Reardon; and the Remember the Triangle Fire Coalition.