Hannah Hendricks United States History 2 Professor John Gore 29 February 2024
Many women worked in the Triangle shirtwaist factory. Garment workers wanted shorter hours and better pay. Speed was what mattered in the factory. The workers were expected to make 3000 stitches per minute with no mistakes. Their pay was docked for the mistakes that they made. On their way out of the building, the workers checked their bags. Only one of the two exits was left unlocked so no one could leave without being checked for anything that was stolen. On October 4th, 1909, the workers of the Triangle factory went on strike. Blanck and Harris, the owners of the Triangle company, hired people to start fights with the protesting workers as well as paid off the…show more content… The entire fall, shirtwaste factory workers began talking about how to get some measure of control over their working conditions. At the end of November 1909, shirtwaist workers began to consider an industry-wide strike against all of the shirtwaist factories. However, many argued against a strike like that, with Clara Limlich who had led a strike just a few weeks earlier, arguing for the strike. Almost everyone agreed with her about striking. The next morning, every shirtwaste worker got up from their station and walked out. The workers of the Triangle Factory have started the largest strike in the city’s history. Within 2 days, 70 of the factories gave in to their workers’ demands. Harris and Blanck were angry at the factories that had given in to the workers and started a manufacturers association to “stand up against” the workers on strike. Triangle hired more and more people to beat the protesters. Soon, protesters began to march on the city hall. The mayor waved off the protesters as everyone was against labor unions. As the protesters began to run out of hope and money, Anne Morgan, the daughter of J. P. Morgan, took up their cause. This shocked the public and newspapers quickly took up the story.
