Long after Triangle Fire, worker safety still an issue

I wonder what my Great Aunt Fannie would think of today's American workplace, with a percolating revival of its labor movement.

On March 25, 1911, Fannie Lansner — the 21-yearold sister of my paternal grandfather — and 145 others perished in the 18-minute blaze known as the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire. She had been in America just four years after immigrating from Lithuania.

The gruesome deaths — 80 of which involved workers leaping from the Manhattan highrise factory's windows to escape the flames, including Fannie — sparked a revolution in workplace safety, building codes, and unionization.

I'd think my great-aunt would cheer the renewed worker battle for better workplaces after decades of declining union membership.

Fannie Lansner, sister of columnist Jonathan Lansner's paternal grandfather, was among 123 women and 23 men who died in what's known as the Triangle Fire. It was a preventable tragedy at a ninth-floor garment factory in New York City. The fire sparked the American labor movement as well as modernized building safety codes.

Last year saw a curious uptick in labor activity as the worst bout of inflation in four decades nudged workers to demand far more from their employers, and be willing to strike when denied.

Labor researchers at Cornell University and the University of Illinois found the number of U.S. work stoppages grew by 9% last year to 470. Though most of the strikes were brief with 62% of last year's stoppages running four days or less.

But it was the size of the strikes that was eye-catching with 539,000 workers in stoppages — up 141% in a year.

California was the national strike hub with three of the year's biggest strikes: SAG-AFTRA, Kaiser Permanente and Los Angeles Unified School District. Add in the UAW's StandUp Strike, and you've got four major walkouts involving 65% of all workers who struck in 2023.

Those California-centric big strikes helped form the rankings of industries with the most workers on the picket lines in 2023. Top strike targets were in information (think Hollywood), health care and social assistance and educational services.

And what did workers walk out for in 2023? The university researchers say the most common strike demands were compensation, health and safety concerns and increased staffing.

No. 5 on that list were strikes tied to workers getting their initial union contract — a sign of organized labor's growth. These

74 stoppages were double 2022.

So, look at the union upswing of 2023 this way: There were nearly 25 million work days on strike in 2023 in the U.S. — a five-fold increase in a year.

The grand question is whether recent union activity is primarily fallout from the economic turmoil created by the pandemic.

Will slowing job growth and cooling inflation lower worker anxiety or their willingness to participate in labor actions?

Think about one measure of unhappy workers — those who quit their jobs. After hitting record highs in 2022, quits last year fell 12% nationwide — and 67% in California.