Remembering the 1911 Triangle Factory Fire

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Cornell University, History Sites, Kheel Center for Labor-Management and Archives, ResourcesJanuary 21, 2022

Near closing time on March 25, 1911, a fire broke out at the Triangle Waist Factory in New York City. Within 18 minutes, 146 people were dead as a result of the fire. This site includes original sources on the fire held at the ILR School’s Kheel Center, an archive of historical material on labor and industrial relations.

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The International Trade Union and Labour Memory Network is a collaborative international project by a group of historians and labour activists. We aim to examine the commemoriation of labour history by highlighting what kind of labour and trade union memory work is undertaken across the globe, how trade unions use history and memory as a resource, and discuss the problems and challenges involved in commemoration.

2019 CES Union Membership Report

Department of Labor, Media, PDF, PDF WTM GOV, Research Collections, Resources, US Government Publications, When Teachers Mobilize

In 2019, the percent of wage and salary workers who were members of unions—the union membership rate—was 10.3 percent, down by 0.2 percentage point from 2018, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today.

Bread and Roses Strike of 1912: Two Months in Lawrence, Massachusetts, that Changed Labor History

History Sites, Lawrence, Local and Regional Resources, Massachusetts, Resources

The Lawrence Textile Strike was a public protest mainly of immigrant workers from several countries, including Austria, Belgium, Cuba, Canada, France, England, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Scotland, Spain, Syria, and Turkey. According to the 1910 census, 65% of mill workers (many of whom eventually struck) lived in the United States for less than 10 years; 47% for less than five years.

Fraser Paper

Fraser Paper, History Sites, Resources

In 1820 Lowell, known as East Chelmsford, MA at the time, had a population of 200 and was a farming community. Thirty years later, the population had grown to 33,000 and one could find 32 textile mills in existence there. Lowell was an ideal location for these mills because it was located near the Merrimac River. The river supplied the water necessary to run these factories.

“Compulsory Unionism” and Its Critics: The National Right to Work Committee, Teacher Unions, and the Defeat of Labor Law Reform in 1978

Media, PDF, PDF WTM, Research Collections, Resources, The Journal of Policy History, When Teachers Mobilize

In 1977, a bill to better enforce the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) sailed quickly through the House of Representatives. Facing a Senate filibuster, its proponents weakened the proposal—making it, according to historian Jefferson Cowie, “lean, moderate, and basically unchallenging to the corporate order.”