Around 200 people gathered outside NYU’s Brown Building to honor the lives lost in the 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire on Monday afternoon. The fire, which killed 146 workers inside the blouse factory that used to occupy the building, led to landmark labor protections in the state.

Organizers, city government officials and students and faculty from organizations such as Contract Faculty United and Pay Your Workers NYU attended and spoke at the event honoring the 113th anniversary of the tragedy.

“It’s a sacred date on the calendar for the New York labor movement,” CFU member Jacob Remes said in an interview with WSN. “Their deaths helped bring about the workplace safety regime that we have today, and the labor laws that we have today. It’s important for us to be there to honor that.” 

The commemoration, organized by the Remember the Triangle Fire Coalition — an independent nonprofit dedicated to spreading awareness about the fire — holds an annual ceremony in memory of the fire. This year’s gathering featured speakers such as New York State Department of Labor Commissioner Roberta Reardon and Service Employees International Union secretary-treasurer Edgar Romney. 

“NYU has long supported efforts to commemorate the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire and the tragic loss of life there, including supporting the landmarking of the building,” university spokesperson John Beckman wrote in a statement to WSN. “Beyond that, I would note that the university worked closely and collaboratively with the coalition, that NYU was invited to speak at the dedication of the memorial supported the establishment of the memorial, and that the Remember the Triangle Fire Coalition cited NYU’s support in a press release in October 2023 sent out at time the dedication.”

Romney said that student groups such as Students Against Starbucks — which recently protested for NYU to cut ties with Starbucks following claims that the company had violated labor rights — and Pay Your Workers NYU demonstrate growing youth involvement in unionization efforts. 

The series of speeches was accompanied by around 30 New York City Fire Department members and a ceremonial raising of a ladder to the 6th floor, representing the highest floor the fire department was able to reach during the fire. Laura Kavanagh, New York City’s fire commissioner, spoke about the event’s effect on expanding fire safety regulations in a speech.

Pay Your Workers NYU member Hazel Walrod reiterated the group’s ongoing demands for the university to cut its ties with Nike due to wage theft allegations at a factory in Thailand, which provides NYU with merchandise. Pay Your Workers NYU has been protesting the university’s contract with the company since October and recently participated in a rally in Washington D.C. where protestors were allegedly assaulted by Nike employees. A university spokesperson previously told WSN that it is working with the Workers’ Rights Consortium and the Fair Labor Association to review the group’s concerns.

“It was the same corporate greed that led to the death of 146 workers in this building, now owned by NYU,” Walrod said in her speech. “Students must stand in solidarity with the many workers who make our university what it is, and truly live up to the tagline of the ‘university without walls.’ We will not stop making their voices heard until every garment worker — every worker — has dignity and security in their livelihood.”

NYU came to possess the Brown Building when it was donated to NYU in 1929, after being converted into classrooms and laboratories in the years after the fire. The Remember the Triangle Fire Coalition fought for over a decade to establish a memorial for the fire, which was unveiled at the building this past October.

“In order for us to improve how things should be in the future, we also understand what has happened in the past,” Romney said. “What’s important is never to forget what has happened there because that’s how we continue to make improvement.”

Update, March 26: This article has been updated with a statement from an NYU spokesperson.

Contact Dharma Niles at [email protected].