Workers and Community Gather to Commemorate 115th Anniversary of the Triangle Fire

The NYC Central Labor Council, AFL-CIO, Workers United, SEIU, and the Remember the Triangle Fire Coalition,hosted the 115th Anniversary Commemoration of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire on Wednesday at Washington Place and Greene Street in Lower Manhattan. More than 400 attendees from across the Labor Movement and the broader community gathered to honor the 146 workers, mostly young immigrant women, who lost their lives in the 1911 tragedy, which helped spur critical labor and fire safety protections that continue to protect workers today.

The program featured the traditional reading of the victims’ names, with flowers laid at the site as a bell tolled in remembrance. A fire truck ladder was raised to the sixth floor of the building, marking the highest point it could reach at the time of the fire. The ceremony also included music from the New York City Labor Chorus and a performance from the Italian opera Camicette Bianche, along with a presentation by young activists from El Puente telling the story of the fire.

Speakers included Edgar Romney of Workers United/SEIU, New York State Commissioner of Labor Roberta Reardon, New York City Deputy Mayor for Economic Justice Julie Su, AFT President Randi Weingarten, Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum of Congregation Beit Simchat Torah and Union Theological Seminary, NYC CLC President Brendan Griffith, NYPD Chief of Fire Prevention Thomas Currao, NYSNA Mt. Sinai member-leader Darla Joiner, Emily Bass of the Remember the Triangle Fire Coalition, and CFU-UAW member Emily Bauman.

View the full livestream of the event here and see more photos from the day in our album here. You can also  find additional coverage of the commemoration from AMNY, THE CITY, Washington Square News, and CBS NY.