This is What a World Without Unions Looked Like.

Saying it is ironic that we are at the 100th anniversary of the Triangle Shirtwaist fire, at the same time anti unionism (make that anti workerism) is running rampant, might be an over sell. It might be mystifying something that really does not deserve any mystification. Exploitation of workers has been the norm, for these past ten thousand or so years of alleged human civilization. And it is one of my favorite personal theories that the 20th Century in America, and the gains made by the nation at large, and the many individuals who thrived, who were able to enjoy the middle class level of lifestyle, was more a matter of the unlikely coincidence of some social, if not international factors. But in the case of work place safety and wages and benefits, we can never discount or ignore the importance of collective bargaining, agitation, and pushes for legislative reform that came not from the corporate exploiters, by and large, but from the unions.

The Triangle Shirtwaist fire was a watershed moment. The disaster was (and I am vamping here, going mostly off memory) one of those lightening bolt moments where people stopped, and took notice of what was wrong in the world. And they were angry.

Sidebar. That building still stands in "The Village." It's part of NYU. I actually think I walked past it the first couple two three times before either awareness hit me like a realized fit of déjà vu , or I noticed the plaque telling the building's history. (That would have been at least 25 years ago, so I don't exactly remember which way it went down.) Anyway, as I don't have HBO It will be some time before I get to see the documentary. Hope they put it up on the website, sooner than later.