The birth of the New Deal

Triangle Shirtwaist
纽约三角女衬衫工厂

The birth of the New Deal
新政的起源

A blaze that galvanised the labour movement 
工厂大火引发了工人运动

Mar 17th 2011 | NEW YORK | from the print edition


No way out for many

THE fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist factory on March 25th 1911 began just before the end of the working day; some of the workers had already put on their hats. Escape routes were limited. One of the doors was locked and the New York fire brigade's ladders only reached the sixth storey, 30 feet (9 metres) short of the burning floors. Half an hour after the alarm, the fire was mostly out, but 146 people were dead. Most were women, many were in their teens and almost all were Jewish or Italian immigrants. More than 50 burned to death on the factory floor, 19 fell into the lift-shaft, at least 20 died when the overburdened fire escape broke free of the building and 53 jumped or fell from the windows.

1911年3月25日，三角女式衬衫工厂发生火灾，当时还没到下班时间，有的工人已戴上帽子准备离开。因为逃生通道很少，其中一个上锁，纽约消防队的梯子只能够到6层，离火灾事故地还差30英尺（9米），所以警报后半小时，尽管火几乎扑灭，还是有146人丧生。大多数是妇女，许多还只是十几岁的女孩，他们几乎都是犹太人或意大利移民过来的。50多人在火灾现场活活烧死，19人丧生于紧急通道中，当时火势已蔓延整座大楼，53人不得不选择跳楼，至少 20人身亡。

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. A state commission investigated the fire, but also took on issues such as low wages, long hours, child labour and safety. 

许多受惊的旁观者应该有所耳闻，该厂女工去年参加过2万人次全市服装业罢工，他们要求改善工作地点、工作条件，增加工资且减少工作时间，希望通过工会来解决这些问题，但是三角女式衬衫工厂雇主反对工人组成工会。这场悲剧促成一系列的改革运动，国家委员会还彻查了此案，也开始处理一些事件，如工资低、工作时间长、童工雇佣以及安全事故问题。

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. They served as a model for other states and the New Deal's labour legislation of the 1930s., later Franklin Roosevelt's labour secretary, was one of those who watched the fire. She later called March 25th 1911 the day the New Deal began. Before the fire, unions tended to tackle owners individually. Afterwards, they had the law on their side.

几年内，市政府和州政府相继出台了36部新法，堪称国内最综合的劳动法和公共安全法，并且还成为了其他州和30年代新政劳动立法的法律典范。Frances Perkins，后来是罗斯福劳动法秘书，因曾亲眼目睹那场大火，后来将1911年3月25日定为新政的起源日。事故发生前，工会通常和雇主单独交涉，事故后，法律也站在他们一边，增加了谈判的砝码。

Lee Adler, who teaches collective bargaining at Cornell University, sees parallels between the way the sweat-shop owners treated their workers and how a few governors in the Midwest are treating civil servants these days. The comparison is perhaps farfetched. But the anniversary does remind America why unions were needed. Last week 100,000 people protested against the governor of Wisconsin's assault on public-sector collective bargaining. A hundred years ago 400,000 attended the memorial service for those who died, in part, because they could not unionise.

Lee Adler，在康奈尔大学教劳资谈判，最近将血汗工厂主对待工人的态度与中西部地区的省长对待公务员的态度做了对比，尽管这种对比很牵强，但是这个周年纪念日的确提醒了美国为什么需要工会的存在。上周，100,000人抗议反对威斯康辛州州长取消州政府雇员集体谈判权的法案。100年前，400,000人参加追悼会，追悼那些为组成工会而献身的人