1. Define "sweatshop labor" and discuss the pros and cons of this method of production from the
point of view of both workers and employers.
2. Why do you suppose immigrants, especially women, have traditionally worked in the clothing industry?
Activities
1. Using both the website listed below and the information provided in this section, prepare a report on the Triangle Shirt Waist factory fire of 1911 in New York City. Discuss the workplace conditions that led to the death of 114 workers and describe the impact the fire had on the development of New York State laws governing workplace conditions and safety.
2. Check the labels of your family's clothing and list all the countries where these goods were made or assembled. Unless they had a union label and/or were made in the U.S., these garments were probably made in a sweatshop. Discuss whether a family's desire for less expensive clothing justifies the exploitation of workers who produce it.
Vocabulary
seamstress
contractor
amalgamated
journeyman
tailor
Glossary
sweatshop: an unregulated manufacturing workplace which generally employs
immigrant workers in unsafe conditions at substandard wages.
Resources
Map/Guide, # 29, 30, 48, 51
Leon Stein, The Triangle Fire. (1962)
www.ilr.cornell.edu/trianglefire
United Students Against Sweatshops, www.usasnet.org
Jacob Riis, How the Other Half Lives. (1890)
Educators are encouraged to reproduce this Study
Guide for classroom use. REAL welcomes comments by teachers and
students, which can be directed to real@rochesterlabor.org
