Payment method of Triangle Shirtwaist Factory
The Triangle Shirtwaist firm had two systems of payment, piece-work and a fixed weekly wage, and it imposed upon each employee whichever method of payment it preferred. Becky was a swift and clever worker; in the bust season, she could make from $18-$20 a week doing piecework. The Triangle Company, seeing how quick she was, with sharp business sense, changed her from piecework to a weekly wage, and managed to get the same amount of work out of her for half the money. (Source: April 15,191, article from The Outlook by Miriam Finn Scott.)
Working Conditions
In the busy season we worked overtime until half past eight and nine o'clock every night. They gave us fifteen cents for supper, that is us week workers, but supper was sitting by the machine and eating and working at the same time. They were awful mean about fines. At first they used to make us lose a half day if we came late, even five minutes. (A girl reported to Mary Van Kleeck)
The dye from cheap cloth goods is sometimes poisonous to the skin; and the fluff from such goods inhaled by the operators is excessively irritating to the membranes, and gives rise to inflammations of the eye and various forms of catarrh [inflammation of a mucous membrane, especially of the nose and throat]. (Sadie Frowne)
The Triangle Shirtwaist firm had two systems of payment, piece-work and a fixed weekly wage, and it imposed upon each employee whichever method of payment it preferred. Becky was a swift and clever worker; in the bust season, she could make from $18-$20 a week doing piecework. The Triangle Company, seeing how quick she was, with sharp business sense, changed her from piecework to a weekly wage, and managed to get the same amount of work out of her for half the money. (Source: April 15,191, article from The Outlook by Miriam Finn Scott.)
Working Conditions
In the busy season we worked overtime until half past eight and nine o'clock every night. They gave us fifteen cents for supper, that is us week workers, but supper was sitting by the machine and eating and working at the same time. They were awful mean about fines. At first they used to make us lose a half day if we came late, even five minutes. (A girl reported to Mary Van Kleeck)
The dye from cheap cloth goods is sometimes poisonous to the skin; and the fluff from such goods inhaled by the operators is excessively irritating to the membranes, and gives rise to inflammations of the eye and various forms of catarrh [inflammation of a mucous membrane, especially of the nose and throat]. (Sadie Frowne)