Conference- The Triangle Shirtwaist Fire and its Legacy: Out of the Smoke and the Flame

The Triangle Shirtwaist Fire and its Legacy
March 24, 2011; 9 a.m. — 6:30 p.m.
CUNY Graduate Center, 365 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY, 10016
Registration is Free and Open to the Public

Program Click here for a printable PDF version9 – 9:15 a.m. Musical performance from the dramatic oratorio From the Fire

Kris Kukul, pianist Matt Carr Emily Mattheson
Shaunice Alexander Carrie Crow Alicia Olatuja
Catherine Brookman Roe Hartrampf Aaron Schroeder

Music by Elizabeth Swados, www.trianglefromthefire.com

9:15 – 9:25 a.m. Welcome

William Kelly, President, Graduate School & University Center, CUNY
Gregory Mantsios, Executive Director, The Murphy Institute, CUNY
Christine Quinn, Speaker, New York City Council

9:25 – 10:45 a.m. Plenary: The Political Significance and Present Day Legacy of the Triangle Fire

Moderated by Paula Finn, New Labor Forum, The Murphy Institute, CUNY

The Triangle Fire in its Historical Context
Steve Fraser, New Labor Forum, The Murphy Institute, CUNY

From Fire to Ashes: The Changed Contemporary Political Landscape
Frances Fox Piven, Graduate Center, CUNY

The Unfinished Business of Triangle Protest: Challenges and Possibilities Confronting Labor Today
Sarita Gupta, National Executive Director, Jobs with Justice

11 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. Concurrent Panels

Global Perspectives on Sweatshops (LAWCHA)
Beth English, Princeton University; Mary Frederickson, Miami University; Judy Gearhart,* International Labor Rights Forum; Robert Ross, Clark University

Why No Fire This Time? Acquiescence and Resistance in Politics Today
Liza Featherstone, Journalist; Steve Fraser,* New Labor Forum, Murphy Institute, CUNY; Gerry Hudson, Executive Vice President, SEIU; Stephen Pimpare, NYU

Memorializing the Past: Using Memorials and Monuments to Teach NY History
Wendy Aibel-Weiss, Director of Exhibits and Education, Tribute WTC Visitors Center; Julie Maurer,* The Gotham Center for NYC History, Graduate Center, CUNY; Christopher Moore, Historian; Ruth Sergel, Artist; Brian Tolle, Artist; Suzanne Wasserman,* The Gotham Center for NYC History, Graduate Center, CUNY; Maribeth Whitehouse, Teacher, I.S. 190, Bronx, NY

Labor and Immigration Politics: Past and Present
Muzaffar Chishti, Migration Policy Institute, NYU; Janice Fine, Rutgers University; Ruth Milkman,*Graduate Center, The Murphy Institute, CUNY; Mae Ngai, Columbia University

Labor Standards and the State
Melvyn Dubofsky, SUNY Binghamton; Terri Gerstein, Deputy Commissioner of Labor for Wage Protection and Immigrant Services, NYS Department of Labor; Rory Lancman, NY State Assemblyman and Chair of the Subcommittee on Workplace Safety; Ed Ott,* The Murphy Institute, CUNY

Grassroots Organizing for Workers’ Health and Safety Today
Luzdary Giraldo,* New York Committee for Occupational Safety and Health; Barbara Rahke, Philadelphia Area Project on Occupational Safety and Health; Richard Witt, Rural and Migrant Ministry

Art and Working-Class Movements
Esther Cohen, Artist, Cultural Organizer; Ellen Todd,* George Mason University; Clyde Valentin, Hip Hop Theater Festival

Combating Domestic Sweatshops, a Roundtable (LAWCHA)
Eileen Boris,* University of California, Santa Barbara; Narbada Chhetri, Senior Community Organizer, Adhikaar for Human Rights and Social Justice, NYC; Jocelyn Gill-Campbell, Domestic Workers United;Premilla Nadasen, Queens College, CUNY

12:30 – 1:30 p.m. Lunch Break

1:30 – 2:45 p.m. Plenary: The Global Sweatshop

Moderated by Ruth Milkman, Graduate Center, The Murphy Institute, CUNY

The Economic Role of the Global Sweatshop
Saskia Sassen, Columbia University & London School of Economics

Workers’ Resistance in the Chinese Sweatshop
Ching Kwan Lee, University of California Los Angeles

Protecting Workers’ Rights in the Global Economy
Jennifer Gordon, Fordham University School of Law

Worker Protest Today in Bangladesh
Kalpona Akter, Secretary General & Executive Director of the Bangladesh Center for Worker Solidarity

3 – 4:30 p.m. Concurrent Panels

Garment Unionism and the Garment Industry: From Triangle to Today
May Chen,* former Vice-President Workers United, currently The Murphy Institute, CUNY; Richard Greenwald, Drew University; Katie Quan, former organizer for ILGWU, currently UC Berkeley; Andrew Ross, NYU

Teaching the Triangle Fire: A Conversation (LAWCHA)
Hillary Broder, Kennedy High School, Bellmore-Merrick, N.Y.; Carmelina Cartei, Women and Gender Studies Program at Hunter College, CUNY; Tara Finneran, Bronx Arts Ensemble Teaching Artist; Rob Linné,* Adelphi University; Sharon Papp, Adelphi University; Kimberly Schiller, Huntington Public Schools, N.Y.

Child Labor: Then and Now (LAWCHA)
Sally Greenberg, National Consumers League; Hugh D. Hindman, Appalachian State University; Kriste Lindenmeyer, University of Maryland Baltimore County; Laura Lovett,*University of Massachusetts

Global Sweatshops and International Solidarity: The Case of Bangladesh
Babul Akhter, Secretary of the Bangladesh Garments and Industrial Workers Federation; Mitch Cahn,President of Unionware; Bjorn Claeson, Sweatfree Communities, International Labor Rights Forum; Mark Levinson,* Workers United, SEIU

Feminism, Low-Wage Workers, and Organized Labor
Ileen DeVault,* School of Industrial and Labor Relations, Cornell University; Susan Feiner, Francis Perkins Center & University of Southern Maine; Annelise Orleck, Dartmouth College

OSHA at 40: From Triangle to Today
Eric Frumin,* Change To Win; Gerald Markowitz, Graduate Center, CUNY; David Michaels, Assistant Secretary of Labor, Occupational Safety and Health Administration; Peg Seminario, AFL-CIO

The Legacy of Triangle and Youth Labor Organizing in the US
Laura Binger, Food AND Medicine; Theresa Cheng, United Students Against Sweatshops; Jennifer Polish, STAND, Queens College, CUNY; Andres Puerta,* American Federation of Television and Radio Artists

Could Triangle Happen Today?
Peter Amato, Safety Consultant and former president of the NY chapter of American Society of Safety Engineers; Matt Connor, NYFD and The Murphy Institute, CUNY; Robert Solomon, National Fire Protection Association

4:45 – 6:30 p.m. Closing Plenary: The Contemporary Legacy of the Triangle FireModerated by Joshua Freeman, Graduate Center, The Murphy Institute, CUNY

What is the Triangle Legacy?
Alice Kessler-Harris, Columbia University

From the Triangle Fire to the BP Explosion: Protecting Workers Today
David Michaels, Assistant Secretary of Labor for OSHA

Organized Labor and the Challenges of the Twenty-First Century
Bruce Raynor, President, Workers United, SEIU

* Panel Chairperson
7 – 8:30 p.m. Gotham Center for NY History Plenary Discussion
(Separate Free Registration Required)

Rich Greenwald, Drew University
Annelise Orleck, Dartmouth College
Ellen Todd, George Mason University
Jennifer Guglielmo, Smith College
David Von Drehle (Author)
Ruth Sergel (Artist, Organizer, Remember The Fire Coalition)

To Follow: Book signing of Arcadia Press’ The New York City Triangle Factory Fire

Related articles

• HBO To Air Special of Triangle Shirtwaist Fire (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
• A National Celebration of the Workers' Compensation Centennial (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
• The Triangle Fire Airs on PBS Feb 28, 2011 (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
• "Kate Kelly: The Triangle Factory Fire Centennial and Why It Matters Today" and related posts (huffingtonpost.com)

TRIANGLE'S ECHOES: The Unfinished Struggle for Worker Protection, Safety and Health

How far have we really come the since 1911, when the Triangle shirtwaist factory fire killed 146 people, most of them immigrant women, nearly half still in their teens? This film was commissioned by the National Consumers League and the planning Committee for the 
Washington DC Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire 100th Anniversary symposium.


Click here to view the film: http://youtu.be/xN8cjH5qfRk


Related articles

• HBO To Air Special of Triangle Shirtwaist Fire (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
• An Important History Lesson In Workplace Safety Laws(workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
• Conference- The Triangle Shirtwaist Fire and its Legacy: Out of the Smoke and the Flame (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
• John Seabrook: The hundredth anniversary of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire. (newyorker.com)
• 100th Anniversary Of Deadly Triangle Shirtwaist Fire Approaches (newyork.cbslocal.com)
• Remembering the Triangle Fire, 100 Years Later(cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com)
• US Labor Department - Website to Commemorate 100th Anniversary of the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
• Commemoration-Triangle Shirtwaist Fire: A Century Later (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)

US Labor Department Launches Mobile-Optimized Website to Commemorate 100th Anniversary of Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire

Mobile site features audio tour and background of historic event

WASHINGTON — In commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the deadly fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in New York City, the U.S. Department of Labor today announced a new website and audio tour optimized for smartphones documenting that milestone in labor's history.

With audio narrated by Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis and other senior Labor Department officials, the website highlights 21 locations throughout the New York City metropolitan area that played a role in the March 25, 1911, fire. Users can read and hear about the events that led up to the fire, its victims and the aftermath. The fire killed 146 workers and was an early tipping point in the struggle to ensure basic health and safety precautions in the 20th century workplace.

"The events of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire and their impact over the last 100 years are chilling reminders of the importance of the work of the Labor Department," said Secretary Solis. "As we continue to ensure that every company takes responsibility for the safety and health of its workers, we must also remember that although much has improved over the last 100 years, these images are still relevant today."

The website is http://m.dol.gov/shirtwaist. Audio recordings of the narration are also available by calling 866-487-2365.

On Friday, March 25, at approximately noon EDT, Secretary Solis is expected to deliver keynote remarks at the 100th anniversary commemoration of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire sponsored by the Service Employees International Union in Greenwich Village (Washington and Green Streets) in Manhattan.

The Labor Department's mobile tour is one of many commemorative efforts organized by nonprofit groups; labor unions; academia; and local, state and federal entities surrounding the 100th anniversary of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory tragedy.

Note: If you are not on a mobile device, please visit the tour on the full website 

Related articles

• HBO To Air Special of Triangle Shirtwaist Fire (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
• An Important History Lesson In Workplace Safety Laws (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
• Conference- The Triangle Shirtwaist Fire and its Legacy: Out of the Smoke and the Flame (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
• John Seabrook: The hundredth anniversary of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire. (newyorker.com)
• 100th Anniversary Of Deadly Triangle Shirtwaist Fire Approaches (newyork.cbslocal.com)
• Remembering the Triangle Fire, 100 Years Later (cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com)

Commemoration- Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire: A Century Later

The Forward has published a special section for its new March 25 issue to commemorate and honor the 100^th anniversary of the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire.  The section features the first-ever translations of the Jewish Daily Forward’s original Yiddish coverage of the event, including the front page of March 25, 1911, the day of the fire, stories about the heroes of the fire, and Editor Abe Cahan’s editorials about the tragedy.

The special section also includes an original essay from David Von Drehle, author of Triangle: The Fire That Changed America, as well as the winners of its Triangle Fire Poetry Contest, a prize poetry contest that the Forward held earlier this year to elicit  submissions for both an English and Yiddish poem to honor the poetry of Morris Rosenfeld who documented the fire at the time and to reflect upon the fire’s meaning and legacy. The winner of the English poem was Zackary Sholem Berger of Baltimore, Md and the winner of the Yiddish section was Alec (“Leyzer”) Burko of New York City.

Lastly, another neat part of the section is a video tour featuring Chris Connor, a retired NYC fire marshal who visits the current building where the Triangle Fire took place (now a part of NYU’s campus) to document what went wrong on that fateful day.

Click here  to see the special section. http://tinyurl.com/4vzrfa3

Related articles

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• Conference- The Triangle Shirtwaist Fire and its Legacy: Out of the Smoke and the Flame (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
• The Triangle Fire Airs on PBS Feb 28, 2011 (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
• HBO To Air Special of Triangle Shirtwaist Fire (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
• Remembering the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire, 100 Years Later (wnyc.org)
• A National Celebration of the Workers' Compensation Centennial (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)

Flames That Forged Justice

 The Triangle Shirtwaist Fire and the Birth of American Labor Rights

The Triangle Fire Airs on PBS Feb 28, 2011

It was the deadliest workplace accident in New York City’s history. A dropped cigarette on the 8th floor of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory sparked a fire that killed over a hundred innocent people trapped inside. The private industry of the American factory would never be the same.


Airs on American Experience on PBS Feb. 28, 2011 at 9:00pm on most PBS stations. Commemorating the workers' compensation centennial.

Jackie K. Cooper writes in the Huffington Post, "The conditions and events shown in this story will lead viewers to reflect on many of the battles occurring in our nation today. The balance between union and non-union forces is still a delicate one. We also see how far we have come in the protection of workers and the conditions under which they toil."

Related articles

• 100 Years Later, the Roll of the Dead in a Factory Fire is Complete
• Morning Read: The Year of the Anniversary (observer.com)
• Remembering the Triangle Factory Fir - 100 Years Later
• PBS Documentary Commemorates the 100 Year Old Fire (NY Daily News)
• The Triangle Fire "An American Tragedy" (Huffington Post)  
• New York Times, March 26, 1911, p. 1. "141 Men and Girls Die in Waist Factory Fire; Trapped High Up in Washington Place Building; Street Strewn with Bodies; Piles of Dead Inside."

An Important History Lesson In Workplace Safety Laws

Guest Blog by John B. Boyd


“The only thing new under the sun is the history which you don’t know.” Harry S Truman


I am amazed at the number of Republicans and Democrats who love to credit our founding fathers with abundant wisdom, then conveniently ignore some of the historical facts about the legislation these legendary giants implemented during our early history. This is true whether for national health care, or, for appropriate workers’ compensation insurance coverage.


In 1798, the United States Congress passed an Act for Relief of Sick and Disabled Seamen. This law required all seamen who worked in the merchant marine (private companies) to pay a special tax to fund medical care and hospitals for seamen who were sick or injured. The government deemed that merchant seamen were necessary to the economic health of America and their hard labor jobs often produced injuries that if left untreated would result in an unnecessary loss of their labor and economic hardship for our country.


Thomas Jefferson was the Senate leader and John Adams the President. I dare say both of them were very familiar with our Constitution and it’s restrictions, yet they both helped put in place this common sense law and never once considered it an affront to personal liberty.


There is very little difference between that act and compulsory health insurance other than one is a tax and the other a fine if one doesn’t comply. Both require citizens to help fund their own health care. Both have the power to create a healthier workforce and consequently a healthier economy.


Next month marks the 100th anniversary of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, which is credited with the impetus for the need for strong unions; for national workers’ compensation laws; and, for states to enact safety laws regulating the workplace.


Today’s legislators would well be served by such history lessons.

John B. Boyd  practices in Kansas City, Missouri (www.boydkenterlaw.com). He was the former Acting Chairman of the Labor & Industrial Relations Commission of Missouri. John is a founding member of and Past-President of the Workers' Injury Law and Advocacy Group and a member and former Vice-President of the Missouri Trial Lawyers Association. He is a charter Fellow in the College of Workers' Compensation Lawyers. He is counsel to the Missouri AFL-CIO Lawyers Coordinating Committee and represents various labor organizations.

Related articles

• Remembering the Triangle Fire Coalition 1911-2011
• A National Celebration of the Workers' Compensation Centennial (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
• Conference-The Triangle Shirtwaist Fire and its Legacy: Out of the Smoke and the Flame (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
• HBO To Air Special About Triangle Shirtwaist Fire (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)

Bangladesh Building Collapse Highlights Need for Safety Inspections

Today's post comes from guest author Kit Case from Causey Law Firm. 

Ed Note: Samsung has been sued in Brazil over factory working conditions

The total number of workers killed or injured in the collapse of a building in Savar, Bangladesh on April 24, 2013 is not yet known, as rescuers continue to search for survivors.  As of Sunday, April 28th, the count was at least 377 dead.  

Bangladeshi Workers Protest Deaths

Many of those killed were workers at clothing factories housed in the building, known as Rana Plaza, where fire broke out in the wreckage of the building, temporarily suspending rescue efforts as of April 24.  Efforts will restart with the aide of heavy equipment, which had previously been avoided in an effort to not injure those still buried in the rubble.  T

here no longer are assumed to be any victims remaining alive, although hundreds remain unaccounted for. The death toll surpassed a fire five months ago that killed 112 people and brought widespread pledges to improve worker-safety standards. But since then, very little has changed in Bangladesh.

Human Rights Watch reported on the building collapse, noting that it knows of no cases in which the Bangladeshi government has ever prosecuted a factory owner over the deaths of workers.

 USA Today reported on the tragedy with the news that Mohammed Sohel Rana, the fugitive owner of the illegally-constructed building, was apprehended by a commando force while trying to flee to India.  Rana was returned to Dhaka to face charges of negligence. Rana had been on the run since the building collapsed Wednesday. He last appeared in public Tuesday in front of the Rana Plaza after huge cracks appeared in the building. Witnesses said he assured tenants, including five garment factories, that the building was safe. Hours later, the Rana Plaza was reduced to rubble, crushing most victims under massive blocks of concrete.

Human Rights Watch reported on the building collapse, noting that it knows of no cases in which the Bangladeshi government has ever prosecuted a factory owner over the deaths of workers. Many factory owners in Bangladesh are parliamentarians or members of the main political parties. In an interview with a government minister in 2011, the minister told Human Rights Watch that it would be “impossible” to improve workers rights so long as factory owners were senior members of political parties. 

Occupy Wall Street And The Future Of Workers Compensation

The same social/economic forces  present on streets of New York City over a century go, are now re-emerging in the birth of the Occupy Wall Street [OWS] movement. The workers, unions and concerned citizens that are are patriotically seeking to again balance the  social/economic system mirror the century old movement and aspirations that its genesis in the Triangle Shirt Waist tragedy. This time the inspiration generated may evolve into a new and creative system to prevent workplace injuries and compensation. The new system maybe target entirely  to safety and prevention rather than solely compensating for injuries and exposures sustained at work.

Over a century ago the failure of employers to protect workers’ health and safety resulted in the tragedy of the Triangle Shirt Waist factory fire. Following that fatal conflagration emanated the promulgation of the modern day workers’ compensation system. It arose out of frustration and anger and was displayed in the street.

The recent efforts to dismantle the national network of workers’ compensation systems through legislation and regulation has effectively rendered the system both costly to navigate and burdensome to obtain benefits. Efforts have been made to make it more difficult to establish a claim. Occupational disease claims once considered compensable are not being denied and litigated on a regular basis.

The present workers’ compensation system has been emasculated by the competing efforts of Industry to reduce access to benefits at earlier stages of the process, and by a transformed industrial/economic system.  Soaring medical costs necessitated by the need to provide personalized medical treatment protocols to cure for complex diseases are raging havoc to the program. Medical  costs have soared and insurance carriers are continuing to raise rates. The 99% that constitutes the core group of the Occupy Wall Street movement is either unemployed or disabled and unable to work.  They seek good jobs which are safe, and medical benefits that are effectively and efficiently delivered.

Counting failure is no longer an option. Jobs that injury workers and a system that delays and denies benefits for injuries and exposures at work, is not beneficial to nation, its Industry and workers. Hopefully American creativity will give birth to a new system, and the Occupy Wall Street movement will be that catalyst. 

For over 4 decades the Law Offices of Jon L. Gelman  1.973.696.7900  jon@gelmans.com have been representing injured workers and their families who have suffered occupational accidents and illnesses.

Related articles

• Occupy Wall Street Now in 25 Cities
• Rage Against the Financial Sector Fuels Protest (washingtonpost.com)
• Designing the New Federal Workers Compensation Program (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
• Worker's Comp, Walker, and Wisconsin's Wailing (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
• Occupy Wall Street: What They Are So Angry About? (huffingtonpost.com)
• Thousands of Wall Street Protestors March to Washington Square Park (wshingtonpost.com_
• Does the Workers' Compensation System Need a Prescription Change (gelmans.com)

John Sciortino, 52

John Sciortino passed away suddenly, at much too young an age, Monday evening at his home in Penfield. John was born in Buffalo and grew up in Schenectady where he graduated from Mohonasen High School in 1977. John is deeply mourned by the many he so profoundly touched. He was a man of many varied and diverse passions and talents. He loved life and lived it large in every way. He possessed the rare qualities of a good listener and great storyteller. He was funny. Above all, he was a loving husband to Michele and a doting father to his teenage daughter Andrea.

He loved music, particularly jazz, and was accomplished with the trumpet and piano. He never missed the Rochester Jazz Festival. He was an avid fan and supporter of the Gregory Kunde Chorale, headed by his good friend and world renowned tenor, Gregory Kunde.

He loved sports of every kind and was always a familiar figure at Frontier Field rooting on the Red Wings or the many teams who completed at the Blue Cross Arena. Through thick and thin, and last year very thick, the Boston Bruins were his team and to his tremendous delight, finally brought home the Stanley Cup.

His home in Cape Cod was his refuge where he escaped to enjoy the pleasures of his family. He was an avid fisherman and boater.

John served tirelessly on the Boards to advance the needs of others through his service with many not-for-profit organizations. At St. Joseph's Catholic Church of Penfield he was chair of the Parish Pastoral Council and led an involved and successful expansion project. He is past Chairman of the Board of Governors for Seniorsfirst Communities & Services. He is a member of Wakan-Hubbard Lodge No. 154 F.&A.M. He served for almost 25 years on the Boards at Valley Manor and Kirkhaven Nursing Home. 

His recent appointment to the Board of Trustees at his alma mater, Union College, capped a lifetime of study, financial support and service to the institution that provided him invaluable guidance and purpose.

After graduating from Union, John earned his law degree from Albany Law School in 1986 and was a founding partner in the law firm of Segar & Sciortino. His distinguished service in the bar was dedicated solely to advancing the needs of injured workers. At the time of his death, he was President of the New York State Injured Workers' Bar Association, a founding member of the Board of Governors of the New York Injured Workers' Alliance and founding member and former State Co-Chair of the New York Workers' Compensation Alliance. He was a member of the Board of Directors of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire Memorial, a non-for-profit organization devoted to commemorating the early 20th century sweatshop conflagration which provided the impetus for the enactment of New York State's Workers' Compensation Law. Each year, under John's guidance, more than a dozen Triangle Scholarships are awarded to children of permanently disabled workers attending college across New York State.

Described as "one of the foremost advocates for Workers' Compensation reform", John was invited in 2006 to participate as a panelist at a NYS Senate Workers' Compensation Reform Round Table to offer insight into ways to improve the Workers' Compensation system. In 2007, John served as an advisor to the New York State Department of Insurance Task Force appointed to make recommendations to improve the resolution process for disputed Workers' Compensation cases. 

In 2008, he was awarded a Clara Lemlich Public Service Award for his outspoken efforts on behalf of the rights of injured workers in New York State. The recognition is named in honor of the noted 20th century sweatshop labor activist who inspired a massive strike for the New York City garment workers in 1909 which lead to improved working conditions in the garment industry. John has been annually recognized by Super Lawyers. Last weekend he was inducted as a Fellow of the College of Workers' Compensation Lawyers. 

John was truly one of a kind - bigger than life. He lived to help and serve others. He was - in the most special way - heaven sent and loved by all. He is survived by his wife of 25 years, Michele, daughter Andrea, mother Hermine Sciortino, sister Linda DiGiralamo, sister-in-law and brother-in-law David and Maureen McDaniel, mother-in-law Shirley Hudson, Uncle/Aunt Dominick and Kathleen Sciortino, Aunt Isabel Sciortino, nieces Nicole DiGiralamo and Ismay English, nephew Matthew Hudson and several cousins. He is also survived by his best friend and law partner, Stephen A. Segar and family. He was predeceased by his loving father Anthony Sciortino and dear friend - brother-in-law Mark Hudson.

Friends may call Friday, 2-4, 6-8 PM at the funeral chapel (2305 Monroe Ave.). Friends are invited to bring a written memory or photo for the family's Memory Book. A Funeral Mass will be held Saturday, 1 PM at St. Joseph's Church, 43 Gebhardt Rd., Penfield. Interment at Oakwood Cemetery. Contributions in John's name may be made to Union College, 807 Union Street, Schenectady, New York 12308. To share a memory or photo of John visit www.anthonychapels.com.

HBO To Air Special About Triangle Shirtwaist Fire

The HBO special, "Triangle: Remembering The Fire" will air on HBO starting, March 21, 2011 at 9pm. The documentary will commemorate the 100th anniversary of the fire where 146, mostly young immigrant women, were killed in the New York City garment district. The tragedy galvanized public opinion and sparked the birth of the modern labor movement which lead the way for safety regulations in the workplace.

Related articles

• Television Review: Two Remembrances of One Deadly Day in 1911 (tv.nytimes.com)
• The Lingering Consequences of Smoke in the Workplace (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
• Public Meeting on Implementation of the Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
• The World Trade Center Health Program Expands The Path to Federalization (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)

OSHA Advances Recording of Musculoskeletal Disorders

The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration, in partnership with the Small Business Administration's Office of Advocacy, today announced a series of three teleconferences to reach out to the small business community for input on OSHA's proposal to add a column for work-related musculoskeletal disorders on employer injury and illness logs. This proposal would require those employers already mandated to keep injury and illness records to add the step of checking a column when recording work-related musculoskeletal disorders.

Small businesses from around the country are encouraged to participate in the teleconferences. The first will be held on Monday, April 11 at 1:30 p.m. EDT. The second and third will be held Tuesday, April 12, 2011, at 9 a.m. EDT and 1:30 p.m. EDT. Participants may provide input about their experiences in recording work-related MSDs and how they believe the proposed rule would impact them.

The proposed rule only covers MSDs that employers are already required to record under the longstanding OSHA rule on recordkeeping. Prior to 2001, OSHA's injury and illness logs contained a column for repetitive trauma disorders that included hearing loss and many kinds of MSDs. In 2001, OSHA proposed separating hearing loss and MSDs into two columns, but the MSD column was deleted in 2003 before the provision became effective. OSHA's proposal would restore the MSD column to the Form 300.

Interested businesses that wish to participate in one of the teleconferences should contact Regina Powers at powers.regina@dol.gov by April 4, and indicate the teleconference in which they wish to participate. For more information, contact Robert Burt, director of OSHA's Office of Regulatory Analysis, at 202-693-1952 or Bruce Lundegren, assistant chief counsel for SBA Advocacy, at 202-205-6144.

Additional information is available online at  Injury Tracking Application (ITA) Information

Related articles

• OSHA Fines NJ Contractor $45,450 For Safety Violations (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
• Conference- The Triangle Shirtwaist Fire and its Legacy: Out of the Smoke and the Flame (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
• US Labor Department Launches Mobile-Optimized Website to Commemorate 100th Anniversary of Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
• The James Zadroga 9/11 Health & Compensation Act of 2010 (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
• Injuries, Illnesses, and Fatalities Latest Numbers (bls.gov)

Cotton's Thread Through American Labor

How the Empire of Cotton Transformed Workers from Enslaved to Exploited

Statement from the Maquiladora Health and Safety Support Network On the Bangladesh Factory Fires and What’s Needed to Prevent Them

Bangladesh Factory Fire

This will appear as a “Letter from the Coordinator” in the December 2012 issue of the MHSSN newsletter, Border/Line Health & Safety. Garrett Brown, MPH, CIH, is the MHSSN Coordinator and the Network’s website iswww.igc.org/mhssn .

Letter from the Coordinator

Words fail at times like this – another garment factory fire in Bangladesh; 112 dead and 150 injured; another round of despair and anguish for the workers and their families; another round of denials by international garment brands that they bear any responsibility; another round of promises by the brands and their contractors that they will “do better” while refusing to acknowledge that it is their “profits first and foremost” production system that has led to fire after fire after fire.

At least 600 garment workers have been killed – with hundreds more injured, some disabled for life – in factory fires in Bangladesh since 2006. In September 2012, 289 garment workers were killed in a garment factory fire in Pakistan, with scores more injured.

Yet everyone knows exactly the cause of these fires: large quantities of poorly kept flammable materials; damaged or overloaded electrical systems; absent or completely inadequate fire suppression equipment; and non-existent or unimplemented emergency action and evacuation plans. But the people who control these supply chains – the brands – refuse to take any meaningful action to keep from regularly killing the people who make their products and their profits.

The root cause of these fires is a supply chain that places priority on the brands’ “iron triangle” of the lowest price/the highest quality/the fastest delivery from contractors; at the same time that contractors are provided with ever-shrinking, razor-thin profit margins by the brands; while government regulation is made meaningless by corruption and lack of resources; and garment workers are so desperate for work that they cannot refuse any job, no matter how dangerous. Corporate greed and corruption literally kill.

The garment industry’s global supply chain of death-traps is a crisis for all involved – a crisis for workers, for contract manufacturers, for international brands, for governments in the developing world, for the ever-expanding “corporate social responsibility” (CSR) industry, and for the occupational health and safety profession. See the extended “Quotes of the Month” for the perspective of each level of the supply chain. It is a crisis for workers because they are forced by poverty and hunger to go to work every day knowing that they may be burned alive.

It is a crisis for the contractor manufacturers who are denied by their brand clients theresources needed to upgrade their facilities, pay decent wages and still make an “acceptable” profit – so they take “unacceptable risks” with the lives and livelihoods of their work force.

It is a crisis for the brands because their reputations are, or should be, in tatters, and there will come a point when their customers will think twice about buying their products and any employees with a conscience will look for another employer.

It is a crisis for governments in the developing world where more and more of the world’s consumer products manufacturing is being done as they lack the resources (human, financial and technical) and the political will to protect their own citizens.

It is a crisis for CSR because the endless factory fires are proof positive that “corporate social responsibility” is a fake and fraud – all the codes of conduct, all the “independent” monitors, all the “social audits,” and all the CSR consultants and conferences have failed completely in the global garment industry.

It is a crisis for the occupational health and safety profession because it is being drawn into “certifying” working conditions in global supply chains. The Pakistani garment factory that killed 300 workers had been “certified” as safe by Social Accounting International auditors. Apple supplier Foxconn, whose factories have had aluminum dust explosions immediately after inspections, boasted of “certification” under the OHSMS 18000 scheme.

As long as the OHS profession allows these charlatans to profit from meaningless certifications and the resulting worker deaths, the profession will bear an inescapable measure of responsibility. There is a growing recognition of this, such as the statement released by the American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE) after the Bangladesh fire. “It’s not enough to condemn local factory owners for these conditions and to expect long term change,” declared Thomas Cecich, CSP, CIH, Vice President for Professional Affairs and chair of the Center for Safety and Health Sustainability. “The corporations that source supply chain products, as well as their stakeholders, have tremendous power to influence the conditions in which supply chain workers operate.”

As our Network has pointed out repeatedly for many years, the factory fires and unsafe/unhealthy conditions in garment, electronics, and toy supply chains will continue unabated unless two things happen:

1. the near-universal “sweatshop business model” described above must change so that life safety issues and workers’ health an safety actually come first in deeds as well as in damage-control public relations statements; and
2. workers must be incorporated into plant-level health and safety programs, and be authorized, trained and empowered to play a meaningful role in identifying and correcting hazards – without reprisals and discrimination by their employers.

Perhaps the only ray of hope in this bleak panorama is the effort by a coalition of Bangladesh unions and international workers’ rights organizations – outlined in our July 2012 newsletter [hyperlink] – to establish an independent, competent fire safety program that would be transparent, involve workers as key actors, and actually inspect and require hazard correction in garment factories.

Four brands are required to initiate the project in Bangladesh. Two have signed on – PVH (Tommy Hilfiger, Calvin Klein and other brands) and the German brand Tchibo – but two more are needed. In September, after almost a year of negotiations, The Gap pulled out of talks and declared that it would set up its own program without almost all the elements of the program agreed to by PVH and Tchibo.

One way to remember the latest dead and injured in Bangladesh, and try to prevent more deaths, is to join with others around the world in demanding that the international brands step up to the plate with the proposed fire safety plan. Specifically you can add your voice in a campaign to convince The Gap to make good on its promises via the international letter campaign athttp://www.cleanclothes.org/urgent-actions/gap-appeal .

For further information and background on the factory fires, please see:

• Clean Clothes Campaign: http://www.cleanclothes.org/news/bangladesh-factoryfire-brands-accused-of-criminal-negligence
• Garrett Brown, Corporate Social Responsibility; What is it good for?: http://mhssn.igc.org/CSR_BangladeshFires_ISHN_May2011.pdf
• Garrett Brown, Fashion Kills: Industrial Manslaughter in the global supply chain: http://mhssn.igc.org/EHSToday_FashionKills_Sept2010.pdf

Quotes of the Month from the Bangladesh factory fire

I won’t believe Walmart entirely if they say they did not know of this at all. That is because even if I am subcontracted for a Walmart deal, those subcontracted factories still need to be certified by Walmart. You can skirt the rules for one or two odd times if it is for a very small quantity, but no decent quantity of work can be done without the client’s knowledge and permission. 

- Annisul Huq, former president of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and

Exporters Association, quoted by Reuters news service on November 28, 2012.

The buyers write to us to improve working conditions. We asked them to raise prices by 25 cents per clothing unit that would go to workers’ welfare. They refused, citing the financial downturn in their countries.

- Mikail Shiper, a senior official in Bangladesh’s Ministry of Labor and

Employment, quoted in “Bangladesh: How rules went astray,” The Wall Street Journal,

December 5, 2012.

It was my fault. But nobody told me that there was no emergency exit, which could be made accessible from outside. Nobody even advised me to install one like that, apart from the existing ones. I could have done it. But nobody ever suggested I do it.

- Factory owner Delwar Hossain quoted in the Dhaka, Bangladesh, The Daily Star

newspaper, November 29, 2012.

These factories should be shut down, but who will do that? Any good government inspector who wants to act tough against such rogue factories would be removed from office. Who will take that risk? [Kalpona Akter, Executive Director of the Bangladesh Center for Worker Solidarity]…These factories should be closed, but it is not an easy task. We need to follow a protracted legal battle. Always there is pressure because the owners are influential. They can manage everything. [anonymous Dhaka fire official].

- quoted in “Bangladesh Factory Where Dozens Died Was Illegal,” Associated

Press, December 7, 2012.

“We want the owner to reopen the factory as soon as possible or pay us a few months of salary because we have nowhere else to go right at this moment,” said Hasan, a worker who escaped the fire and uses only one name…”I need to recover soon. I need money immediately. We want at least four months of salary to just get by now and by this time, we will look for jobs in other factories,” said Dipa Akter, the 19-year-old worker who injured her led escaping the fire and who has worked at the factory for three years. “Otherwise, I have to go back to my village, where I have nothing to do.”

- BBC News, November 30, 2012

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