1911年3月25日，这家工厂发生大火，当时有数百名女工在厂房内做手头的裁缝活，她们大都为欧洲移民。工厂雇主们已将大部分出口锁上，以防偷盗。由于女工纷纷逃亡，唯一的紧急出口梯不堪重荷而倒塌。大楼顿时陷入一片火海，一些人从100英尺处跳楼身亡，另一些人则被活活烧死。

  http://photos.state.gov/libraries/amgov/3234/week_4/03262012_AP110325136015_jpg_300.jpg

美国劳工部长希尔达•索利斯

美国劳工部长希尔达•索利斯（Hilda Solis）3月25日在纽约的一次纪念活动上指出：“这是一段悲伤的往事。在那个春天的下午，美国人的良知，在求救的呼号声中和救火车的呼叫声中，开始苏醒。”

 

 

美国劳工部因此正鼓励人们浏览有关网站，以了解那场大火的情况以及20世纪早期美国工人的处境。

 

大火的影响

 

在上世纪早期的美国，工人的权利屈指可数。许多人忍受着艰苦而危险的境遇，工时漫长，而且收入微薄。不少人没有参加工会。

 

纽约三角衣厂（Triangle Shirtwaist Factory）的制衣工当时缝制的是一种流行的剪裁合体的女衫。工厂的厂房位于一幢10层大楼最高的三层。由于室内堆满易燃材料而引发了这场火灾。虽然有靠马车带动的救火车赶到现场，但梯子够不着6层以上的楼层。死亡的146人几乎相当于当天上班的全部工人的三分之一。

 

在这场灾难发生后，国际妇女制衣工工会（International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union）等组织以及年轻的社会工作者弗朗西斯•珀金斯（Francis Perkins）开始致力于改革。珀金斯后来成为第一位担任美国劳工部长的女性。在随后的几年中，纽约市和纽约州通过了美国最得力的工人安全保障法，并最终成为全美其他地区有关立法的模式。

 

在担任劳工部长期间，珀金斯帮助建立了失业保险、最低工资标准并制定了一部保障工人集体组织和谈判权利的立法。在她的影响下，各州加强了对劳工法的实施。珀金斯还是《社会保障法》的主要制定者。

 

劳工部长索利斯去年在火灾爆发百年之际指出，这提醒人们劳工部的工作有多么重要。她说：“在我们确保每家公司为工人的人身安全与健康承担责任之时，那场大火悲惨的画面，今天仍发人深省。”

 

今年她又重申了这一点。她说：“我们必须始终保护我们最弱势的工人，我们必须为所有的工人提供安全保障和安全防护机制，我们还必须确保所有工人都有发言权。”

 

三角衣厂所在的大楼，如今已被确定为全国历史性地标建筑物以及纽约市地标建筑物。

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Fire fighters struggle to extinguish the fire in the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory, which occupied the top three floors of this building.

Washington — The terrible events at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in New York City still resonate 101 years later.

The fire that killed 146 people in less than 20 minutes "led to some of the nation's strongest changes in worker safety in the manufacturing industry," the U.S. Labor Department says on a website that commemorates the tragedy.

On March 25, 1911, a fire broke out in the factory, where hundreds of women, mostly immigrants from Europe, were working as seamstresses. The factory owners had locked most of the exit doors to prevent theft. The one fire escape ladder collapsed under the weight of the women who poured onto it. People jumped from the burning building, plunging 100 feet to their deaths, and others burned to death.

“It is an important story,” U.S. Labor Secretary Hilda Solis said at a March 25 commemoration in New York. “On that spring afternoon, the sound of frantic screams and wailing fire truck bells awakened the conscience of America.”

The Department of Labor is encouraging people to visit a website that tells about the fire and the conditions American workers faced in the early 20th century.

THE FIRE’S LEGACY

At the turn of the 20th century in the United States, workers had few rights. Many endured difficult and dangerous conditions, grueling hours and low wages. Most did not belong to unions.

The garment workers at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory produced a popular tailored woman’s blouse called a shirtwaist. The three factory floors, which were on top of a 10-story building, were littered with flammable materials that fed the fire. Although horse-drawn fire trucks rushed to the scene, the ladders could not reach beyond the sixth floor. The death toll of 146 included almost one-third of the workers in the factory that day.

The fire spurred reform efforts by groups such as the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union and a young social worker named Francis Perkins, who later became the first woman to serve as U.S. secretary of labor. New York City and New York state, over the next few years, adopted the country's strongest worker-safety laws, which eventually became model legislation for the rest of the country.

As labor secretary, Perkins helped create unemployment insurance, the minimum wage and the legislation that guarantees the right of workers to organize and bargain collectively. She influenced states to strengthen enforcement of labor laws and was the principal architect of the Social Security Act.

On the 100th anniversary of the fire in 2011, Solis said it is a reminder “of the importance of the work of the Labor Department. As we ensure that every company takes responsibility for the safety and health of its workers, the heartbreaking images from the fire are still relevant today.”

This year she reiterated that theme, saying, “We must always protect our most vulnerable workers; we must provide safeguards and a safety net for all workers; and, yes, we must ensure that all workers have a voice at the table.”

The building that housed the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory has been designated a National Historic Landmark and a New York City landmark.

See the Labor Department's website on the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire, as well as the mobile version, featuring an audio tour optimized for smartphones.