The Triangle

New York City, 1909. Immigrants flood into the city by the millions. FRANCES PERKINS braves the political underworld in search of the Tammany boss whose help she needs to pass a law that will protect working mothers. Instead she receives a warning to never come sniffing around again. Frightened but undaunted, Frances goes to Albany to meet the elected official whose help can turn the tide, the Tammany boss’s right-hand man, AL SMITH. In the heart of the city sits the Triangle Shirtwaist Company, the most powerful garment factory in the world. The shy KALMAN DOWNIC has his heart set on becoming a true American. He goes to English classes and saves his pay so that one day he can buy his own factory. Above all, he longs for VINCENZA PINELLO, the beautiful Italian who inspects his work. RACHEL LANSNER runs errands from floor to floor and steals hopeless glances at Kalman. But her sister EVA uses Rachel to pass secret messages throughout the factory to members of the union. Rachel exposes the union to the factory’s bosses, MAX BLANCK and ISAAC HARRIS, in order to prevent a strike that will keep her from seeing Kalman. Her plan, however, backfires. The workers all arrive at work the next day to find that the owners have staged a lockout. Eva sends Rachel to find the leader of the local union, ROSE SCHNEIDERMAN. A born tactician, Schneiderman knows that with union coffers low and winter fast approaching, there couldn’t be a worse time to strike. With the police receiving bribes from Tammany officials and the newspapers unwilling to report on yet another strike, the cause seems all but doomed. But Rose turns the tide against the owners by placing the union president on the picket line. When the press gets wind that she’s been arrested, the owners find themselves on the wrong side of the publicity for once. Rose uses the momentum to call for a general strike of garment workers across the city. Within hours, factory owners begin showing up at the union headquarters willing to make a deal. And with them come those eager to take advantage of the movement’s sudden influence: Wealthy suffragists arrive with the funds necessary to prolong the strike, as well as their own agenda for political reform. But for the strikers, the protests come at a cost. After spending a night in jail, Rachel decides to cross the picket line, hoping to make enough money to buy medicine for her ailing baby brother. But Eva is adamant that they must “keep faith,” promising that if they hold out just a little longerthey’ll be able to afford better medicine. Vincenza, unfamiliar with the labor solidarity of the Jews, chooses to cross the picket line. On her way home from work she is attacked. Kalman springs to Vincenza’s defense, but in the fray, Vincenza is wounded. Desperate, Kalman takes her to the Triangle, all but empty except for Max Blanck. The owner takes pity on the two immigrants and applies the sewing skill of his working youth to treat Vincenza’s wounds. In the state capitol, Frances continues to badger Al Smith to call for a hearing on the fifty-four hour bill. Al takes pity on her, not only giving her a hearing but prompting her with questions that lead her to relate the examples of poverty and deprivation she’s witnessed with her own eyes. The members of the assembly are moved with compassion and the bill has new life. As the year comes to a close, however, Frances learns that the bill will be killed anyway because of Tammany influence. Furious at having been deceived, Frances accuses Al of corruption and storms out. In the city, tensions between strikers and scabs escalate until a riot erupts when Rachel is assaulted by the police. A local judge sends Rachel, Eva, and Vincenza to the workhouses on Blackwell Island. With the help of the suffragists, Rose arranges for a parade to celebrate the Blackwell prisoners upon their release. Kalman, seeing his heart’s desire waving to him from a convertible, rushes home to get his savings only to find that his money has been stolen and squandered by his alcoholic mother. With garment factories yielding to the influence of the “Uprising of 20,000,” Max Blanck approaches the suffragists with an unbelievable offer; the Triangle will give into every demand… but it won’t recognize the union. Rose refuses, knowing that without the backing of the union, the owners can eventually rescind the agreement. As winter rages outside, the strikers lose their resolve. When Rachel’s little brother finally succumbs to Tuberculosis, she and Eva trudge back to the factory and accept their old jobs… at reduced pay. One year later, business continues as usual at the Triangle as if the strike had never happened. As the workers prepare to leave for the day, a small fire breaks out in one of the cutting bins on the eighth floor. The foreman begins to evacuate everyone. The secretary tries to alert the other floors but can’t get through. As soon as everyone is evacuated, the foreman rushes upstairs to warn everyone else but finds the ninth floor blocked by flame. With the secretary finally able to get through to the tenth floor, the owners begin hurrying their workers into the elevators. As they watch the elevators slowly grind their way down to safety, the owners and remaining workers flee to the roof. Harris, knowing that they’ve only bought themselves a few extra minutes, leaps to the neighboring building and grapples his way up and over the edge to safety. The workers wait, believing themselves to be abandoned until Harris reappears with a ladder to help them across to safety. Fire engines begin to arrive and crowds gather in the streets. Fire fighters find the water pressure unable to reach the inferno above and rescue ladders too short. The workers trapped inside are on their own. Panic engulfs the ninth floor as fire surrounds the workers. They stampede toward the doors, finding them locked. Vincenza falls beneath the feet of the mob, only for Kalman to sweep her up and push her through the window and onto the fire escape. The rusty metal gives way and dozens of women plunge to their deaths. Kalman barely saves Vincenza and pulls her back. Eva and Rachel attempt to make it to the elevators. As the flames begin to singe them, Rachel leaps out into the elevator shaft, landing on top of the retreating elevator. She calls back to Eva, begging her to jump. Eva hesitates, then throws herself into the smoky shaft. As the elevator descends toward safety, Rachel cradles her bleeding sister as she dies. With no other recourse, workers begin to step out onto the window ledges and jump. Kalman gently takes several women by the hand and helps them. Finally Vincenza takes his hand and the two lovers step off the ledge together. Al Smith visits the Charities’ Pier where dozens of coffins lay within a lantern-lit warehouse and attempts to comfort the bereaved families who come to try and identify their loved ones. At the train station, Frances finds him trying to help a little boy reunite with distant family upstate. Having been softened by time, Frances shares a cab with Al and notices a profound change. As the vice-chair of the fire Investigating Committee, Al appoints Frances to help him seek justice for the deceased workers. Frances asks Rose to join the committee and show them every underhanded practice in the industry. When Rose asks for proof that they’ll keep faith, Al responds by giving her an envelope full of blackened wedding rings from the Triangle. No longer the love-struck girl, Rachel instead begins taking night classes. Blanck and Harris, accused of having locked the factory doors, are brought to trial for murder and acquitted. In the state capitol, Frances finally meets with the Tammany boss, who agrees to throw his support behind this new legislation. When Frances leaves, one of the boss’s underlings informs her of a factory in the city called The Triangle Shirtwaist Company trying to skirt safety regulations. With a knowing smile, Frances promises to do what she can to help.