Triangle Fire: or is it mis-fire?

I found it odd watching this documentary on the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire and then seeing the start of the Occupy Wall Street movement. These two events, although seamlessly unrelated, are actually much closer than we think. The common thing about them is the story of the struggle of the common people against those who put pursue wealth above everything else.
The documentary is not so much about the fire and the aftermath. It is rather about the movement and strikes for better conditions and unionization that came before it. The documentary talks about the social conditions of the workers. It describes their lives in early 20th Century New York. The documentary also goes into the aspirations of the workers and why they migrated to America. This sets us up for us to better understand the motivations of the workers. It also is partly to juxtapose it against the tragedy itself.
That is where the documentary falls apart. It does not say that the tragedy could have been avoided had the efforts of the strikes succeeded but it does go a long way to suggest that demands for better conditions were not all achieved and that had something to do with the tragedy. In fact, even if all of the workers' demands were met, that wouldn't have prevented the fire. Success of the strike wouldn't have changed the conditions that led to the tragedy. What would have changed the conditions? Either an enlightened factory owner, aware of the humanity of their workers or specific laws defining the rights of workers for a safe workplace. Guess which one is more likely?
The documentary goes into this narrative mode, where we are presented with the musings of the workers. It gives an insight into their thinking. It makes us understand what the workers were going through. However, I have my doubts that the narrative is factual. Some could have been culled from other workers in other factories. That is ok when talking about the general condition of society and describing the New York of the era. But then the narrative continues into the event itself and some of the narrative were just impossible to have been written because they describe the writer's ultimate demise.
That takes the documentary into a grey area. It is a legitimate documentary at times because of the experts who were providing insight and information. It presents little known facts about the strike efforts. It even discusses the relationship between the women's suffrage movement and the strikers. But when it ventures into the often dramatic narrative, it begins bordering on non-fiction. It this a non-fiction documentary? It has too much drama that threaten the documentary's legitimacy.

I understand that PBS has to compete with the hyperbole pollution that the History Channel tries to present as facts but does it really have to do that by aping them? CNN followed that route when it tried to compete with Fox News. Look at the shadow of credibility that CNN is now.
A good thing the documentary made me do was to think about how often this happens in history. A group of people protests about something that in hindsight seems to be logical and easy to accept. However, it takes a  great effort to gain some concessions and attention. Then tragedy strikes and suddenly, the general public not only takes notice but now demands something be done about it. Then resistance to reasonable demand disappears and progress is achieved. I could give examples but think about it, how many tragedies spur major positive change? The the tragedy following the protests will move the masses of people. It will provide a moral wall, holding up the causes of the protest and preventing the wealthy from beating back progress of which they only see possible loss of wealth and definitely loss of power (albeit how brief, before the public forgets). Sadly, this phenomena has been observed, studied and exploited. The exploitation of a tragic event is called the Shock Doctrine.
The next thing on my mind is the possibilities facing the Occupy Wall Street movement. Their message is not one thing because simply too many things are wrong right now. Will it need a tragedy before they are taken seriously?