A Brief Look at Exploited Labor

Here and Abroad

Safety, who do you trust?

Triangle Fire 1911

Triangle Fire 1911

Most of the victims were recent Jewish and Italian immigrant women

aged sixteen to twenty-three; the oldest victim was 48, the youngest were two fourteen-year-old girls.

Wikipedia

Triangle Fire 1911

Triangle Fire 1911

The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in New York City on March 25, 1911, was the deadliest industrial disaster in the history of the city of New York

and resulted in the fourth highest loss of life from an industrial

accident in U.S. history

Wikipedia

Triangle Fire 1911

Triangle Fire 1911

Because the managers had locked the doors to the stairwells and exits –

a common practice at the time to prevent pilferage and unauthorized breaks – many of the workers who

could not escape the burning.

Wikipedia

Triangle Fire 1911

Triangle Fire 1911

Triangle Fire 1911

Triangle Fire 1911

Triangle Fire 1911

Triangle Fire 1911

Triangle Fire 1911

The fire led to legislation requiring improved factory safety standards and helped spur the growth of the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union, which fought for better working conditions for sweatshop workers.

Wikipedia

Triangle Fire 1911

Bangladash fire 2012

While the fire was claimed an anomaly, just two months later there was another fire with the same issue of locked doors.

Two days after Saturday's fire at a Bangladeshi garment factory that killed at least 112 people, Walmart was neither confirming nor denying that the factory was one of its contractors, saying that it just wasn't sure whether Tazreen Fashions, Ltd. made Walmart clothes. But pictures taken after the fire showing clothes from Walmart's Faded Glory label appear to settle that question.

WALMART

So, it can’t happen again, can it?

Second garment factory fire breaks out in Bangladesh 2 days after inferno kills 112 RT

published time: November 26, 2012

Bangladeshi firefighters climb a ladder as they try and control a fire

that broke out at a garment factory on

the outskirts of Dhaka on

November 26, 2012 (AFP Photo /

Str)RT published time: November 26,

2012