(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Workers Battle for Climate Change Protections [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2024-07-02 Below is a climate map from the Climate Impact Lab that shows average temperatures in the United States for the 1986-2005 period: We have entered into an era of rising temperatures, in which more and more people will become exposed to extremely hot days, days so hot that they will have a tangible impact on mortality. Although modeling the link between natural disasters and climate change is difficult, heat waves are very easy to attribute to climate change. For example, scientists know with a high degree of certainty that the 2010 Russian heat wave was five times more likely to have happened in 2010 than in the 1960s, given the cumulative impact of climate change. Exposure to extreme heat is not just a health hazard, it can prove fatal. One study found that environmental heat leads to over 170,000 work-related injuries a year. It is one of the leading causes of workplace death. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labour Statistics , in 2022, the last year for which we have data, “Fatalities due to exposure to temperature extremes increased 18.6 percent in 2022, rising to 51 from 43 in 2021. Fatalities specifically due to environmental heat were 43 in 2022, up from 36 in 2021.” Keep it Moving! Workers have begun to mobilize against negligent bosses who, thirsty for bonuses, profits and targets, risk the very lives of their workers. Last summer, when it seemed like the heat was intent on breaking world record after world record, with metro areas recording their longest streaks of temperatures over 100 degrees -afternoons in Phoenix had an average temperature of 110 for a whole month-, workers were kept busy. Nothing could be allowed to stop business. Without federal regulations to protect workers from extreme heat, workers were left to management’s devices, and management chose profits over worker safety. As workers collapsed, with some dying, companies demanded workers keep up the pace. UPS workers, for example, demanded fans and air conditioning on their trucks instead of surveillance cameras. One USPS worker who died, Eugene Gates, Jr., had, the month prior, received a stationary event disciplinary letter. A stationary event, according to USPS, occurs when a postal carrier’s scanner detects that they have stopped for a few minutes. Standing still to catch your breath or to hide under the shade, could be enough to get a disciplinary letter. One Dallas post office sent a message out to its carriers, “BEAT THE HEAT!!! NO STATIONARY EVENTS; KEEP IT MOVING”. Workers Are Winning Protections Left to managers, protections would only be given if they hurt the bottom line. Otherwise, workers will continue to be exposed to potentially fatal temperatures. This is the price of not having federal protections. In response to this reality, workers have used negotiations and strike action to fight for safe and cool work conditions. Often, workers have had to implement a collective safety culture without management approval. A Los Angeles Teamster, Frank Halstead, said when it comes to safety, the trick is not to ask for permission, and have people take cooling breaks when they need it: “We keep an eye on everybody, try to make sure everyone’s hydrated. I really don’t give a f— what the company says we can or cannot do. If someone shows signs of heat exhaustion, we’re stopping. Let the company try to discipline us afterwards. “Because of that we don’t have an issue. Management does not push back on us, because they just know it’s not gonna happen. We have to keep each other safe; we can’t rely on management.” Workers are organizing not just to create a collective safety culture, they are winning fans and cooling breaks with cold drinks from very reluctant managers. You see, as the Jacobin observed , managers often ignore their own safety regulations, such as supplying cool water all day. Workers are realizing that it’s not enough to get safety regulations, they have to be prepared to walk out when standards fall. And that’s exactly what many are doing, with one Starbucks worker saying of walking out, “That got people realizing, we don’t have to suffer through unworkable conditions.” At Homegrown, a Seattle chain of sandwich cafes and caterers, the union acted very creatively. Kai Ortiz, who preps pastramis and works the register, explained that, “At my store, we did a march on our boss. We did flyering [of customers outside the store] on our breaks — in front of our managers. Pretty badass. We did sidewalk chalking. We asked an industrial hygienist to come to check out our conditions, and they set up a medical station in front of the store to interview people.” The union eventually won a contract that gave “heat” pay” to workers, under which, if temperatures were over 82 degrees after an hour, workers earn 150 cents for the remainder of the shift, and if they are above 86 degrees, their wages are doubled, or they can leave work without reprisals. The idea being to make it so expensive for managers to force workers to work in extreme heat that they will simply go out and get an AC. And if workers feel the conditions are bad, they can give customers flyers, picket, and do other things, without getting fired. 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