Maddenation

International Ladies Garment Workers

This site is a review of a new book by David Von Drehle about the Triangle Waist Company fire, which killed 146 garment workers in New York on March 25, 1911. Today, as globilization takes off to unprecedented levels, we tend to forget about the abuses of the past that led to the rise of unions. I’ve never been a big supporter of unions, a prejudice I picked up from my father, but clearly, the unbridled greed of employers using marketplace competition as an excuse to control and abuse their workforce is a much more direct evil. I think the free market capitalism we know and love has many advantages, but one of its biggest problems is its tendency toward exploitation of laborers and resources. How do we deal with this as a society?

Dad • Histories • 09/06/03 • 0 comments

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