Bill Text: NY J02056 | 2023-2024 | General Assembly | Introduced


Bill Title: Commemorating the 113th Anniversary of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire on March 25, 2024

Spectrum: Slight Partisan Bill (Democrat 42-21)

Status: (Passed) 2024-03-26 - ADOPTED [J02056 Detail]

Download: New_York-2023-J02056-Introduced.html

Senate Resolution No. 2056

BY: Senator RAMOS

        COMMEMORATING   the   113th   Anniversary  of  the
        Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire on March 25, 2024

  WHEREAS, It is the sense of this Legislative Body to commemorate the
113th Anniversary of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory  Fire,  which  took
the lives of 146 garment workers, on March 25, 1911; and

  WHEREAS,  It  is  also  incumbent  upon this Legislative Body, as we
commemorate this anniversary, to acknowledge the  continued  efforts  of
Workers United/SEIU (formerly the International Ladies' Garment Workers'
Union) in empowering and protecting workers across the country; 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, The majority of the fire's victims were Jewish and  Italian
immigrants,  many of them young women, who might otherwise have survived
this tragedy had the factory's managers not  locked  the  doors  to  the
stairwells  so as to prevent theft and early departure; there was almost
no water that the workers trapped on the 8th, 9th, and 10th floors could
use to douse the rapidly spreading flames; doors that  were  not  locked
opened  the  wrong  way,  leaving  workers  with  no  option for escape;
meanwhile the factory's owners were in the factory that  same  day  with
their children, and were able to find their way to safety by escaping to
the building's rooftop; and

  WHEREAS,  Since  the  doors to the stairwells were locked, dozens of
panicked factory  employees  attempted  to  escape  via  the  building's
structurally  compromised  fire  escape only for it to collapse onto the
concrete eight stories below; after the fire escape  collapsed  and  the
stairways  became  inaccessible because of the smoke and heat, employees
were trapped in the building with no means of escape except by  jumping;
and

  WHEREAS,  Only  three  weeks  prior to the fire, a group of property
owners  had  met  to  oppose  the  fire  department's  calls   for   the
installation  of  indoor  sprinklers; the fire department's ladders were
not tall enough to reach beyond the sixth and  seventh  floors,  leaving
the workers on the 8th, 9th, and 10th stranded; and

  WHEREAS,  The  deplorable  working  conditions  in  New  York City's
garment industry were well-known at the  time  and,  in  1909,  industry
leaders  were  met  with  a  massive strike known as the Uprising of the
20,000 led by the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union in  which
workers  demanded  higher  wages,  safer  working conditions, and better
hours; this strike precipitated the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire  by
just a year; 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  Bren-
man (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,  Subsequent  to  this devastating, preventable tragedy, the
labor movement sprung to action  and  the  New  York  State  Legislature
formed   the   Factory   Investigating  Commission  to  study  and  make
recommendations  on  working  conditions;  the   Factory   Investigating
Commission's  reports  and findings led to 38 new labor laws in New York

State strengthening  worker  protections  with  measures  that  required
stronger  fire  safety efforts, more effective factory ventilation, safe
operation of elevators, and improved  machine  guarding  and  sanitation
measures; and

  WHEREAS,  The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire reinvigorated a labor
movement that would give American workers access to rights we must never
take for granted, including the nationwide adoption of the 40-hour  work
week  and the weekend in 1940, the passage of the Social Security Act in
1935, and the right to organize a union  and  negotiate  in  good  faith
under the Wagner Act in 1935; and

  WHEREAS,  It  is  imperative  at  a time when our Federal Government
continues to demonize and persecute immigrants that we honor our state's
history of welcoming immigrants, that we  cherish  the  fact  that  this
country  was  built  by  immigrants, and that we re-commit to continuing
that legacy by standing up for immigrants today; now, therefore, be it

  RESOLVED, That this Legislative Body pause in its  deliberations  to
commemorate  the  113th  Anniversary  of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory
Fire, and to acknowledge the efforts of  Workers  United/SEIU,  Governor
Kathy  Hochul,  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; Clarissa M. Rodriguez, Chair of the
New York State Workers' Compensation Board; Daniel A.  Nigro,  New  York
City  Fire  Commissioner;  Triangle  Shirtwaist  Factory  Fire  Memorial
Society; Serphin R.  Maltese;  New  York  State  Commissioner  of  Labor
Roberta Reardon; and the Remember the Triangle Fire Coalition.
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