The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in 1911 , in which 146 garment workers were burned alive or died jumping from the ninth floor of a factory building , dramatized the conditions that Schneiderman , the WTUL and the union movement were fighting . The WTUL had documented similar unsafe conditions – factories without fire escapes or that had locked the exit doors to keep workers from stealing materials – at dozens of sweatshops in New York City and surrounding communities ; twenty-five workers had died in a similar sweatshop fire in Newark , New Jersey , shortly before the Triangle disaster . Schneiderman expressed her anger at the memorial meeting held in the Metropolitan Opera House on April 2 , 1911 , to an audience largely made up of the well-heeled members of the WTUL : Despite her harsh words , Schneiderman continued working in the WTUL as an organizer , returning to it after a frustrating year on the staff of the male-dominated ILGWU . She subsequently became president of its New York branch , then its national president for more than twenty years until it disbanded in 1950
Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire
Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire
Rose Schneiderman