Across the country, people are skipping meals and falling behind on housing payments while layoffs, automation, and diminishing labor protections deepen insecurity. The message many workers hear is simple: You are replaceable.
HR 6213, the Heat Workforce Standards Act, would prevent OSHA from creating a national heat safety standard. FERN content creator Carlin McCarthy talks to worker advocates and a Phoenix safety rep about what's at stake, and hears from the bill's supporters too.
A Look at Labor is a new FERN series breaking down the labor fights across food, agriculture, and the environment. New episodes every other Monday this fall. Subscribe to follow along.
Trump officials and Republicans are rolling back protections against heat-related illnesses and deaths. When it’s 90F on a hot summer day, Esther Minton wears a long-sleeved shirt to work.
“Working outside, you don’t have cover. There’s nowhere for you to really go if you’re on a roof or if you’re on the side of a building,” said Minton, a member of the Sheet Metal Workers Local Union 28 in New York City. “Having the sun beaming on your skin all day long, you’ll never make it through, so what you wear makes a difference.”
Airport, warehouse, cafeteria, delivery and construction workers will meet with New York City Deputy Mayor for Economic Justice Julie Su to discuss the health effects of extreme heat on the job.
The roundtable will focus on the physical toll of heat exposure and the safeguards available, or missing, in participants’ workplaces. Workers will also discuss what stronger heat protections would mean for them and their coworkers.
The TEMP Coalition, chaired by the New York Committee for Occupational Safety and Health (NYCOSH), is organizing the discussion with Su and the Mayor’s Office of Economic Justice. Other participating organizations include the BlueGreen Alliance and the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health (National COSH).
