75th ANNIVERSARY OF THE TRIANGLE FIRE

WHEREAS, on March 25, 1911, 146 New York garment workers--most of whom were immigrants--lost their lives in the Triangle Shirtwaist Company fire. This tragedy serves as a constant reminder that workers must strive for conditions of employment that are not detrimental to their health and safety; and

WHEREAS, today we have a complex network of federal and state laws and regulations that seek to guarantee workers safety and health; and

WHEREAS, this network of rules is not adequate and must be constantly protected from the encroachments of employers that would weaken workers' rights:

RESOLVED, that the AFT resolve to fight the Reagan administration's attacks on the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, which has resulted in the failure of federal health and safety agencies to carry out their statutory responsibility to protect workers on the job; and

RESOLVED, that the AFT vow to keep the memory of the 146 garment workers alive so that we may never go back to those conditions.