AFL-CIO Hosts Free Screening of ‘Triangle Fire’ Film
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Working people around the country are commemorating the 100th anniversary of the tragic Triangle Shirtwaist fire, which killed 146 workers, mostly young immigrant women, many of whom jumped to their deaths from the 10-story factory to escape the fire because they were locked inside.
If you are in the Washington, D.C., area, the AFL-CIO is hosting a free screening of the PBS film, “Triangle Fire,” beginning at noon on March 25 at the AFL-CIO.
The Triangle Shirtwaist fire was the deadliest workplace accident in New York City’s history. After the fire, the women workers’ stories inspired hundreds of activists across the state and the nation to push for fundamental reforms. For some, such as Frances Perkins, who stood helpless watching the factory burn, the tragedy inspired a lifetime of advocacy for workers’ rights. She later became secretary of labor under President Franklin Roosevelt.
Unemployed Workers Have Lifeline Because of Frances Perkins’ Legacy
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With U.S. unemployment at 8.5 percent in March, the highest rate in 25 years, more than 6 million Americans are making ends meet because of the idea and determination of the nation’s first female Cabinet member, Frances Perkins, a “canny but little-known social worker” who became President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s labor secretary during the Depression.
In a Point of View guest column at the AFL-CIO website, Kirstin Downey, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist at The Washington Post, says the vital need for many New Deal programs is especially clear now as we struggle through our current economic crisis.
Downey, author of The Woman Behind the New Deal: The Life of Frances Perkins, FDR’s Secretary of Labor and His Moral Conscience, says Perkins and Roosevelt “propelled into existence” the unemployment insurance system, part of the package of social safety proposals born in the New Deal, including Social Security. Perkins brought her drive and commitment to the effort, and Roosevelt won the political support that allowed the package to pass, Downey says.
New Perkins Center to Honor ‘Woman Behind New Deal’
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Today, as in 1933, the nation faces serious economic uncertainty. As we struggle to find new answers, we look to the example of Frances Perkins, labor secretary during Franklin Roosevelt’s administration, for inspiration.
Perkins is best known for creating much of the social safety net that protects the elderly, young and those experiencing hard times. She is credited with creating Social Security, unemployment insurance and the system that became Aid to Dependent Children.
She also was behind the Fair Labor Standards Act that set a 40-hour workweek to prevent workers from getting broken down by exhaustion, a minimum wage that ensured they would receive a certain level of compensation, a ban on child labor and creation of overtime pay for workers asked to work long hours.
On April 21, an organization based at her family homestead in Newcastle, Maine, is holding its official Washington, D.C., “coming out party” for the brand-new Frances Perkins Center. Started in January by a group that included Perkins’s grandson, the center aims to continue her legacy by spreading the word about her accomplishments and working to carry on her commitment to social justice.
