The Legacy of The Triangle Fire | 5

American History Tellers

Wondery

Society & Culture, Kids & Family, History, Education For Kids

4.7 • 18.3K Ratings

🗓️ 20 November 2019

⏱️ 43 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In September 2019 Democratic Senator and presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren invoked the memory of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire at a campaign rally just a few blocks from the site of fire in Manhattan. It was a powerful reminder of just how deep the legacy of the disaster runs. Organized labor and workplace safety have come a long way since the fire but after years of political opposition, unions and worker rights are on the decline. In the U.S., unions represent 6.4 percent of private-sector workers and just 10.5 percent of workers overall. That’s the lowest percentage in more than a century, and down from 35 percent in the 1950s. That's according to Steven Greenhouse, author of the new book Beaten Down, Worked Up: The Past, Present, and Future of American Labor. Greenhouse joins us to talk about the state of labor in America today and why after years of decline, labor is starting to gain steam.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, prime members, you can listen to American History Tellers add free on Amazon Music,
0:05.6	download the app today.
0:09.0	Imagine it's November 20th, 1816.
0:21.8	Your printer is assistant in Albany, New York, and you're on your way to a downtown tavern
0:26.0	by the shore of the Hudson River.
0:28.1	You had to stay late, setting type on the flatbed press.
0:31.1	Your hands are still covered in ink.
0:33.4	No man or scrubbing will get them clean, but you've grown used to it.
0:36.8	It's a point of pride, actually, that you're a member of an important and prestigious trade.
0:42.5	When you arrive, the tavern's already full with the supper-crown, which you edge your way
0:46.2	through to the tables.
0:47.6	The smell of stew is thick in the air.
0:49.8	The voice calls out, it's your boss towards the back holding court with some members of
0:57.4	the Albany Typographical Society.
1:00.6	You've not once coined these meanings as fun, sir.
1:03.3	True?
1:04.3	Never once.
1:05.3	But the Albany Typographical Society is the height of pure entertainment these days.
1:10.0	Remember Mr. Bradley, the journey men I ran out of the shop last month?
1:13.8	Yes, you remember it clearly.
1:15.8	Mr. Bradley was a printing tradesman from Philadelphia, and had taken up a position alongside
1:20.4	yours at the press.
	...

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