Workers’ rights and CSR – 100 year anniversary of note

I’ve read a bit of history this week that was quite moving, and serves as a reminder how far we’ve come in recognising the struggle between profit, principle and the law. Through time, this has lead to the creation of the legal and regulatory environment firms operate in today.

A major milestone was a catastrophic factory fire in New York City in March 1911.

As reported in The Economist, the fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist factory claimed 146 lives. Escape routes were limited. One of the doors was locked and the New York fire brigade’s ladders only reached the sixth storey, 9 metres short of the burning floors. Puts our modern day moans about “ealth and safety gone mad, innit” into perspective.

Many of the horrified onlookers would have known that the Triangle had been part of a 20,000 strong citywide garment industry strike the previous year. New York’s strikers wanted unionised workplaces, safer working conditions, better pay and shorter hours. But Triangle’s owners would not allow the workers to unionise. The tragedy became a catalyst for a broad range of reforms. What began as an investigation of the fire also took on issues such as low wages, long hours, child labour and safety.

Within a few years the city and the state had adopted 36 new laws, the country’s most comprehensive labour rules and public-safety codes. Before the fire, unions tended to tackle owners individually. Afterwards, they had the law on their side.