The Ugly Underbelly of Fashion…

Charles Kernaghan

Photo By Courtesy of Institute for Global Labour and Human Rights

 

Editor’s Note: Think Tank is periodic column written by industry leaders and other critical thinkers. Today’s column is written by Charles Kernaghan, director of The Institute for Global Labour and Human Rights. 

It wasn’t always like this.
The turning point in the United States was the Triangle Shirtwaist factory fire in New York City on March 25, 1911, when 146 garment workers — mostly women seamstresses — were burned to death when an exit gate was purposely locked. One hundred thousand New Yorkers marched in the funeral procession as 400,000 people lined the streets. Their call was “Who will protect the working girl?” For the first time, laws were enacted almost overnight to require sprinkler systems, fire exits that opened outward and could not be locked, and fire safety inspections became the norm — all of which was opposed by Wall Street.

With legislation to protect worker rights, the labor movement emerged, and by the Forties sweatshops were wiped out in the United States. The middle class was built and living standards rose.

A hundred years later, we are racing backward.

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