[Verse 1 Female rap over dark piano and factory percussion] I wake before the daylight shines Ten twelve hours on factory time Six days straight by the same machine Making their fortune behind the steam One bad day and they let me go Business falls and the wages go low Steel mills burn and the coal mines shake Every shift got a risk we take Sweatshop air in a crowded room Needles keep moving from dawn into gloom Women earn half for the same long day Children work while the laws look away We made the goods we carried the weight Now we stand up and negotiate [Chorus Female singer with rising choir] Factory life Factory pay Harsh conditions Day after day What do we want What do we need Voices together Collective bargaining Higher wages Shorter days Safer work And equal pay Hand in hand We plant the seed Voices together Collective bargaining [Verse 2 Female rap with marching drums] Workers got tired and organized Labor unions made the voices rise Skilled trade workers had started small But few alone could not change it all Garment cutters in sixty nine Built the Knights in Philadelphia time Met in secret behind closed doors Special handshakes protected the cause Powderly helped make the movement grow Seven hundred thousand strong in the fold Women, Black workers, immigrants came Unskilled labor had a place in the name AFL formed in eighty six Gompers came with a practical pitch Better wages and hours made fair Workers need a voice when the bosses are there One point six million by nineteen oh four Collective power kept opening doors [Chorus Female singer with rising choir] Factory life Factory pay Harsh conditions Day after day What do we want What do we need Voices together Collective bargaining Higher wages Shorter days Safer work And equal pay Hand in hand We plant the seed Voices together Collective bargaining [Verse 3 Female rap with heartbeat bass and distant choir] New York City nineteen eleven Triangle workers were earning a living High in a factory ten stories tall Young immigrant women answered the call Then fire came through the crowded space Fear filled every familiar face Survivors reported some doors stayed locked Nearly one fifty lives were lost They came for work they deserved to return That is the lesson the whole nation learned No paycheck worth what a family paid Their memory marched through every change made [Bridge Female singer over piano before drums rebuild] The sorrow became a demand for change No worker should face those dangers again Garment workers raised their voices high The union kept pushing for safer lives Better inspections and exits made clear Stronger protections began to appear Out of the darkness their message still rings A workplace must honor the people within [Final Chorus Full choir with heavy beat drop] Factory life Factory pay Harsh conditions Day after day What do we want What do we need Voices together Collective bargaining Higher wages Shorter days Safer work And equal pay Hand in hand We plant the seed Voices together Collective bargaining We made the goods We carried the weight We built the future We will not wait What do we want What do we need Voices together Collective bargaining
