September 3 - Locked In to Die

Labor History in 2:00 · Sep 3, 2026 · 1m

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…