* Any views expressed in this opinion piece are those of the author and not of Thomson Reuters Foundation.
The staff of Women’s eNews rushed outside at 4:40 p.m. EST on Friday to be in place to ring our bells at precisely 4:45 p.m., when the first alarms sounded 100 years ago in what became known as the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire. The garment factory doors were locked and many employees jumped to their deaths, while the owners climbed the only fire escape to save themselves. All tolled, 146 garment workers died, most of them female immigrants.
On Sunday, Women’s eNews meeting space was filled to capacity to view the PBS documentary Triangle Fire and the producer, Jamila Wignot, took questions from the audience, several of whom were direct descendants of activists created by the fire.
Earlier that say, on the Women’s eNews history walk, the tour group stopped in from the building where Frances Perkins, head of the New York Consumers League and a sociology professor, held hearings into the causes of the fire and the death toll. Perkins had watched helplessly as the bodies dropped to the sidewalk. She became the first woman to hold a U.S. presidential cabinet post when Franklin D. Roosevelt named her secretary of labor. She is credited with the development of the nation’s employment safety laws, minimum wage law and Social Security Act.
While we were ringing the bells, watching the film or taking the tour, all were keenly aware that major workplace safety initiatives are still needed, as well as the protections offered by the power of collective bargaining. If we had any doubts, they were erased by the panel discussion sponsored by Women’s eNews on March 8, comprised of a labor historian and current labor leaders, as well as a commentary posted Friday by Allison Weingarten, legislative director of the New York State Assembly's subcommittee on workplace safety.
We rang our bells standing on the Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony corner in lower Manhattan not only to commemorate the fire’s victims but also in gratitude for all that Perkins accomplished. We also rang out our support of the public employees of Wisconsin—most of those affected by the battle are female school teachers.
But that is not all: We shall also rang the bells in support of the women of the Ivory Coast, massacred as they were protesting peacefully in support of democracy; the women of Lebanon, who are beginning to demand family laws free of religious control; the women of Egypt, who are insisting on a place in the new government; the women of Yemin and all the women living and working in life-threatening situations and those using peaceful powerful strategies to demand safety
Today, as the news of the Middle East and the cuts of public service jobs continue to dominate the news, the lives of women of the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire, continue to urge remind us of the sacrifices made in the past and the work remaining to be done.
