On this day in Labor History the year was 1991.
That was the day that a fire killed twenty-five workers are the Imperial Food Products plant in Hamlet, North Carolina.
More than fifty workers were injured.
The plant made chicken products for fast food restaurants and grocery stores.
According to an article in the New York Times, the plant was “a warren of ramshackle buildings.”
The fire “started with hydraulic fluid from a ruptured line spraying in to gas flames that heated large, oil-filled cooking vats.”
Ninety workers were inside when the fire began.
Some were able to escape out the main entrance or a loading bay.
But the emergency exits of the plant were locked from the outside.
A worker said that this was on the order of company owner Emmett J Roe, to stop workers from stealing chicken.
A passerby, Sam Breeden was interviewed by the Associated Press.
He described the tragic scene “They were screaming: ‘let me out.” They were beating on the door. The people could not force the door open.”
At the time of the fire, the company had not had a fire inspection in eleven years.
An inspection after the fire found 54 “willful” violations.
The company was fined more than $800,000.
Although this was the highest fine in the history of North Carolina, it was far less than federal fines for similar workplace disasters.
That is because North Carolina has a state-run occupational health and safety program.
At the time of the fire nearly half of the states in the country had state-run safety inspections.
And for the company owner Emmett Roe?
He was convicted on twenty-five counts of involuntary manslaughter.
Serving just four years.
January 11 - Battle of the Running Bulls
January 10 - The Rise of Settlement Houses
January 9 - Courts Stand Against Workers
January 8 - Oil Workers Walk Out Across the Country
January 7 - Tragic Youngstown Massacre
January 6 - Remembering Ida Tarbell
January 5 - Ohio First to Enact Black Laws
January 4 - Standing Up by Sitting Down
January 3 - The Power of Folded Arms and Marching Feet
January 2 - A Nation Fed Up, Strikes Back
January 1 - Transit Workers Push Back
December 31 - The Fight for Safer Working Conditions
December 30 - The Day Mines Were Made Safer
December 29 - The Day Work Was Made Safer
December 28 - Heroes in Space
December 27 - Musicians Fight Back
December 26 - Garment Workers Rise Up
December 25 - Debs Released; Real Gift is His Message
December 24 - A Christmas Eve Beating for Striking Workers
December 23 - The High Cost of Low Wages
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