March 25, 2020, is the 109th anniversary of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire in New York’s Greenwich Village. This tragedy took the lives of 146 young immigrant garment workers and galvanized a reform movement to raise standards for workers.
Most years, UNITE HERE staff and members gather at the union headquarters in New York to remember the victims with a reading of their names and testimony from one of the survivors. UNITE HERE’s New York headquarters is closed this year due to the coronavirus pandemic. We offer these historic resources instead to commemorate the 146 immigrant workers whose sacrifices led to safer workplaces. May their memories be for a blessing.
This incident has had great significance to this day because it highlights the inhumane working conditions to which industrial workers can be subjected. To many, its horrors epitomize the extremes of industrialism.
“It is by remembering our past that we prepare to fight for our future. We are measured by how we protect the most vulnerable and ensure their health and safety to pursue life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, that is our guiding light.”
—D. Taylor, President, UNITE HERE
The tragedy still dwells in the collective memory of the nation and of the international labor movement. The victims of the tragedy are still celebrated as martyrs at the hands of industrial greed.
The fire at the Triangle Waist Company in New York City is one of the worst disasters since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. The Asch Building was one of the new “fireproof” buildings, but the blaze on March 25th was not their first. It was also not the only unsafe building in the city.
On the corner of Greene Street and Washington Place, fire fighters struggle to save workers and control the blaze. The tallest fire truck ladders reached only to the sixth floor, 30 feet below those standing on window ledges waiting for rescue. Many men and women jumped from the windows to their deaths. Photographer: unknown, March 25, 1911.
An officer stands at the Asch Building’s 9th floor window after the Triangle Fire. Sewing machines, drive shafts, and other wreckage of the factory fire are piled in the center of the room. Photographer: Brown Brothers, 1911.
In the April 5th funeral procession for the seven unidentified fire victims, members of the United Hebrew Trades of New York and the Ladies Waist and Dressmakers Union Local 25, International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union, the local that organized Triangle Waist Company workers, carry banners proclaiming “We Mourn Our Loss.” Photographer: unknown, April 5, 1911.
The Triangle Fire Memorial to the six unidentified victims in the Evergreens Cemetery, Brooklyn, NY, was created in 1912 by Evelyn Beatrice Longman. The six bodies were all recently identified by Michael Hirsch, who worked tirelessly to recognize the names of the unidentified victims.
Sample Facebook Post:
“I just called Congress to tell them that thousands of hospitality workers—not just billionaire companies—need cash in their pockets RIGHT NOW. Workers must come first in any COVID-19 bailout package! Please join me in calling today. It’s easy, just follow this link!”
UNITE HERE’s Culinary Union Local 226 hosted a series of seven Town Halls throughout November, December, and January in Las Vegas with Senator Kamala Harris, Senator Elizabeth Warren, Senator Bernie Sanders, Vice President Joe Biden, Senator Amy Klobuchar, Mayor Pete Buttigieg, and Tom Steyer to hear more from leading 2020 Democratic contenders on where they stand on issues that matter most to our members: creating more good union jobs, healthcare, immigration, and more.
Hundreds of hospitality workers who are members of UNITE HERE’s Culinary and Bartenders Unions in Nevada—joined by UNITE HERE members from key swing states like Florida, Michigan, and Pennsylvania—packed into our Las Vegas union hall to hear from the candidates.
UNITE HERE, which represents airline catering workers, plans demonstrations at 17 airports including Charlotte, Chicago O’Hare, Dallas, Newark, JFK and Washington National. (See list of airports at the end of this story.)
The union expects the number of demonstrators at each airport to range from about 200 to as many as 1,000 at JFK.
“The Trump administration’s proposed fee hikes are a brazen attempt to restrict access to citizenship, DACA, asylum, and other forms of relief to the wealthy, continuing their despicable campaign to limit immigration reform to the 1% through requirements that make wealth a prerequisite for access to the American Dream. As we head into 2020, we must intensify our fight to reclaim our country, remove politicians who spew racism and anti-immigrant animus from power, and achieve the real immigration reform that our families need.”
—Enrique L. Fernández
General Vice President for Immigration, Diversity and Civil Rights
On this anniversary of September 11, 2001, UNITE HERE remembers all those who lost their lives on that tragic day. We hold especially close the memory of our 43 sisters and brothers from UNITE HERE Local 100 who died while working at Windows on the World, a restaurant located at the top of the North Tower of the World Trade Center.
In memory of our fallen brothers and sisters at Windows on the World:
Sophia Buruwa Addo
Shabbir Ahmed
Antonio J. Alvarez
Telmo Alvear
Manuel O. Asitimbay
Samuel Ayala
Ivhan Luis Carpio Bautista
Jesus Cabezas
Manuel Gregorio Chavez
Mohammed S. Chowdhury
Jose De Pena
Nancy Diaz
Henry Fernandez
Lucille Virgen Francis
Enrique A. Gomez
Jose B. Gomez
Wilder Gomez
Ysidro Hidalgo Tejada
John Holland
Francois Jean-Pierre
Eliezer Jimenez Jr.
Abdoulaye Kone
Victor Kwarkye
Jeffrey Latouche
Lebardo Lopez
Jan Maciejewski
Manuel Mejia
Antonio Melendez
Nana Akwasi Minkah
Martin Morales
Blanca Morocho
Jerome Nedd
Juan Nieves Jr.
Jose R. Nunez
Isidro Ottenwalder
Jesus Ovalles
Victor Paz Gutierrez
Alejo Perez
Moises Rivas
David B. Rodriguez Vargas
Gilbert Ruiz
Juan Salas
Abdoul Karim Traore
The families and coworkers of those mostly immigrant workers talk about their loss, their dreams, and their challenges in the video “Windows,” also available in Spanish.
WHO: UNITE HEREAirline catering workers and political, labor and community supporters from DC and elsewhere, including:
Sen. Bernie Sanders (VT), Sen. Elizabeth Warren (MA), New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, Sen. Richard Blumenthal (CT), Sen. Sherrod Brown (OH), Sen. Jacky Rosen (NV)
Rep. Rosa DeLauro (CT), Rep. Steven Horsford (NV), Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton (DC), Rep. Barbara Lee (CA), Rep. Stephen Lynch (MA), Rep. Grace Meng (NY), Rep. Ayanna Presley (MA), Rep. Darren Soto (FL), Rep. Dina Titus (NV), Rep. Rashida Tlaib (MI), Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (NJ)
UNITE HERE President D. Taylor, ALPA President Captain Joe DePete, AFA-CWA President Sara Nelson, AFL-CIO Secretary Treasurer Liz Shuler
Representatives from the International Brotherhood of Teamsters and German trade union ver.di
WHERE AND WHEN: Tuesday, July 23, 2019
4:30-5:15p: Informational Picketing at Terminal C North Terrace (Departures Level) 5:30p: Rally/Speaking Program Begins in Terminal A Historic Lobby 6:30p: Elizabeth Warren scheduled to speak
WHY:
In the past month, following a breakdown in bargaining for a new contract, 15,000 airline catering workers at 32 U.S. airports voted to authorize a strike when released by the National Mediation Board. They say that poverty wages and unaffordable health care have created a crisis for workers in their industry, making it impossible for them to meet their basic needs. And while American Airlines reported a 2018 annual profit of $1.9 billion, wages for catering workers—subcontracted workers who prepare, pack, and deliver inflight food and beverages—in American Airlines’ major hub cities remain the lowest in the country.
This week, UNITE HERE will formally request release to strike from the National Mediation Board, which would be followed by a 30-day cooling off period if granted. UNITE HERE is prepared to strike whenever it becomes lawful.
UNITE HERE is a union of more than 300,000 members in in the hotel, gaming, food service, manufacturing, textile, distribution, laundry, transportation, and airport industries in the U.S. and Canada. This includes over 20,000 workers in the airline catering industry who are employees of Flying Food Group, Gate Gourmet, LSG Sky Chefs, and United Airlines
“The Democratic presidential candidate who connects with American workers on kitchen-table economics will win the nomination and win the general election in 2020.
The political campaigns of 2020 will end at the ballot box, but they must start at the kitchen table. That is where elections are won and lost, where we meet the real issues of concern to Americans struggling to join the middle class. And the central issue today is economic anxiety in an era of plenty for the top 1 percent of America.”
March 25, 2019, is the 108th Anniversary of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire in New York’s Greenwich Village. This tragedy took the lives of 146 young immigrant garment workers and galvanized a reform movement to raise standards for workers.
At UNITE HERE’s headquarters in New York, staff and members will gather to remember the victims with a reading of their names and testimony from one of the survivors. The ceremony will be accompanied by a special display in the union building lobby at 275 7th Avenue, located in the heart of New York’s Garment District.
This incident has had great significance to this day because it highlights the inhumane working conditions to which industrial workers can be subjected. To many, its horrors epitomize the extremes of industrialism.
“It is by remembering our past that we prepare to fight for our future. We are measured by how we protect the most vulnerable and ensure their health and safety to pursue life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, that is our guiding light.”
—D. Taylor, President, UNITE HERE
The tragedy still dwells in the collective memory of the nation and of the international labor movement. The victims of the tragedy are still celebrated as martyrs at the hands of industrial greed.
The fire at the Triangle Waist Company in New York City is one of the worst disasters since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. The Asch Building was one of the new “fireproof” buildings, but the blaze on March 25th was not their first. It was also not the only unsafe building in the city.
On the corner of Greene Street and Washington Place, fire fighters struggle to save workers and control the blaze. The tallest fire truck ladders reached only to the sixth floor, 30 feet below those standing on window ledges waiting for rescue. Many men and women jumped from the windows to their deaths. Photographer: unknown, March 25, 1911.
An officer stands at the Asch Building’s 9th floor window after the Triangle Fire. Sewing machines, drive shafts, and other wreckage of the factory fire are piled in the center of the room. Photographer: Brown Brothers, 1911.
In the April 5th funeral procession for the seven unidentified fire victims, members of the United Hebrew Trades of New York and the Ladies Waist and Dressmakers Union Local 25, International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union, the local that organized Triangle Waist Company workers, carry banners proclaiming “We Mourn Our Loss.” Photographer: unknown, April 5, 1911.
The Triangle Fire Memorial to the six unidentified victims in the Evergreens Cemetery, Brooklyn, NY, was created in 1912 by Evelyn Beatrice Longman. The six bodies were all recently identified by Michael Hirsch, who worked tirelessly to recognize the names of the unidentified victims.
The victims names:
UNITE HERE represents workers throughout the United States and Canada.
2020 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire Commemoration
Thank you for telling Congress to put workers first!
Action Alert! Congress: Put Workers First!
UNITE HERE’s Culinary Union Hosts Town Halls with Democratic Contenders
Airline Caterers Union Plans Airport Protests On Nov. 26, A Day When 2.8 Million People Will Be Flying
UNITE HERE Statement on Trump Administration’s Proposed Fee Hikes Limiting Access to Citizenship, DACA, Asylum, and Other Relief
UNITE HERE Remembers and Honors those Lost on September 11
Senators Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders to Join UNITE HERE Airline Catering Workers and Hundreds of Supporters at Reagan National Airport Rally, Tell American Airlines That One Job Should Be Enough
D. Taylor: Democrats must focus on kitchen-table issues to win the White House
2019 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire Commemoration
2020 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire Commemoration
Thank you for telling Congress to put workers first!
Action Alert! Congress: Put Workers First!
UNITE HERE’s Culinary Union Hosts Town Halls with Democratic Contenders
Airline Caterers Union Plans Airport Protests On Nov. 26, A Day When 2.8 Million People Will Be Flying
UNITE HERE Statement on Trump Administration’s Proposed Fee Hikes Limiting Access to Citizenship, DACA, Asylum, and Other Relief
UNITE HERE Remembers and Honors those Lost on September 11
Senators Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders to Join UNITE HERE Airline Catering Workers and Hundreds of Supporters at Reagan National Airport Rally, Tell American Airlines That One Job Should Be Enough
D. Taylor: Democrats must focus on kitchen-table issues to win the White House
2019 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire Commemoration
2020 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire Commemoration
Thank you for telling Congress to put workers first!
Action Alert! Congress: Put Workers First!
UNITE HERE’s Culinary Union Hosts Town Halls with Democratic Contenders
Airline Caterers Union Plans Airport Protests On Nov. 26, A Day When 2.8 Million People Will Be Flying
UNITE HERE Statement on Trump Administration’s Proposed Fee Hikes Limiting Access to Citizenship, DACA, Asylum, and Other Relief
UNITE HERE Remembers and Honors those Lost on September 11
Senators Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders to Join UNITE HERE Airline Catering Workers and Hundreds of Supporters at Reagan National Airport Rally, Tell American Airlines That One Job Should Be Enough
D. Taylor: Democrats must focus on kitchen-table issues to win the White House
2019 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire Commemoration
2020 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire Commemoration
Thank you for telling Congress to put workers first!
Action Alert! Congress: Put Workers First!
UNITE HERE’s Culinary Union Hosts Town Halls with Democratic Contenders
Airline Caterers Union Plans Airport Protests On Nov. 26, A Day When 2.8 Million People Will Be Flying
UNITE HERE Statement on Trump Administration’s Proposed Fee Hikes Limiting Access to Citizenship, DACA, Asylum, and Other Relief
UNITE HERE Remembers and Honors those Lost on September 11
Senators Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders to Join UNITE HERE Airline Catering Workers and Hundreds of Supporters at Reagan National Airport Rally, Tell American Airlines That One Job Should Be Enough
D. Taylor: Democrats must focus on kitchen-table issues to win the White House
2019 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire Commemoration
2020 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire Commemoration
Thank you for telling Congress to put workers first!
Action Alert! Congress: Put Workers First!
UNITE HERE’s Culinary Union Hosts Town Halls with Democratic Contenders
Airline Caterers Union Plans Airport Protests On Nov. 26, A Day When 2.8 Million People Will Be Flying
UNITE HERE Statement on Trump Administration’s Proposed Fee Hikes Limiting Access to Citizenship, DACA, Asylum, and Other Relief
UNITE HERE Remembers and Honors those Lost on September 11
Senators Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders to Join UNITE HERE Airline Catering Workers and Hundreds of Supporters at Reagan National Airport Rally, Tell American Airlines That One Job Should Be Enough
D. Taylor: Democrats must focus on kitchen-table issues to win the White House
2019 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire Commemoration
2020 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire Commemoration
Thank you for telling Congress to put workers first!
Action Alert! Congress: Put Workers First!
UNITE HERE’s Culinary Union Hosts Town Halls with Democratic Contenders
Airline Caterers Union Plans Airport Protests On Nov. 26, A Day When 2.8 Million People Will Be Flying
UNITE HERE Statement on Trump Administration’s Proposed Fee Hikes Limiting Access to Citizenship, DACA, Asylum, and Other Relief
UNITE HERE Remembers and Honors those Lost on September 11
Senators Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders to Join UNITE HERE Airline Catering Workers and Hundreds of Supporters at Reagan National Airport Rally, Tell American Airlines That One Job Should Be Enough
D. Taylor: Democrats must focus on kitchen-table issues to win the White House
2019 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire Commemoration
2020 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire Commemoration
Thank you for telling Congress to put workers first!
Action Alert! Congress: Put Workers First!
UNITE HERE’s Culinary Union Hosts Town Halls with Democratic Contenders
Airline Caterers Union Plans Airport Protests On Nov. 26, A Day When 2.8 Million People Will Be Flying
UNITE HERE Statement on Trump Administration’s Proposed Fee Hikes Limiting Access to Citizenship, DACA, Asylum, and Other Relief
UNITE HERE Remembers and Honors those Lost on September 11
Senators Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders to Join UNITE HERE Airline Catering Workers and Hundreds of Supporters at Reagan National Airport Rally, Tell American Airlines That One Job Should Be Enough
D. Taylor: Democrats must focus on kitchen-table issues to win the White House
2019 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire Commemoration
2020 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire Commemoration
Thank you for telling Congress to put workers first!
Action Alert! Congress: Put Workers First!
UNITE HERE’s Culinary Union Hosts Town Halls with Democratic Contenders
Airline Caterers Union Plans Airport Protests On Nov. 26, A Day When 2.8 Million People Will Be Flying
UNITE HERE Statement on Trump Administration’s Proposed Fee Hikes Limiting Access to Citizenship, DACA, Asylum, and Other Relief
UNITE HERE Remembers and Honors those Lost on September 11
Senators Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders to Join UNITE HERE Airline Catering Workers and Hundreds of Supporters at Reagan National Airport Rally, Tell American Airlines That One Job Should Be Enough
D. Taylor: Democrats must focus on kitchen-table issues to win the White House
2019 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire Commemoration
2020 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire Commemoration
Thank you for telling Congress to put workers first!
Action Alert! Congress: Put Workers First!
UNITE HERE’s Culinary Union Hosts Town Halls with Democratic Contenders
Airline Caterers Union Plans Airport Protests On Nov. 26, A Day When 2.8 Million People Will Be Flying
UNITE HERE Statement on Trump Administration’s Proposed Fee Hikes Limiting Access to Citizenship, DACA, Asylum, and Other Relief
UNITE HERE Remembers and Honors those Lost on September 11
Senators Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders to Join UNITE HERE Airline Catering Workers and Hundreds of Supporters at Reagan National Airport Rally, Tell American Airlines That One Job Should Be Enough
D. Taylor: Democrats must focus on kitchen-table issues to win the White House
2019 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire Commemoration
2020 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire Commemoration
Thank you for telling Congress to put workers first!
Action Alert! Congress: Put Workers First!
UNITE HERE’s Culinary Union Hosts Town Halls with Democratic Contenders
Airline Caterers Union Plans Airport Protests On Nov. 26, A Day When 2.8 Million People Will Be Flying
UNITE HERE Statement on Trump Administration’s Proposed Fee Hikes Limiting Access to Citizenship, DACA, Asylum, and Other Relief
UNITE HERE Remembers and Honors those Lost on September 11
Senators Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders to Join UNITE HERE Airline Catering Workers and Hundreds of Supporters at Reagan National Airport Rally, Tell American Airlines That One Job Should Be Enough
D. Taylor: Democrats must focus on kitchen-table issues to win the White House
2019 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire Commemoration
March 25, 2020, is the 109th anniversary of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire in New York’s Greenwich Village. This tragedy took the lives of 146 young immigrant garment workers and galvanized a reform movement to raise standards for workers.
