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| Summers in Florida are brutally hot, dangerous for outdoor workers. Florida Republicans, in their latest act of cruelty, are making the heat even more dangerous. |
It turns out I can now write an almost identical headline about Florida.
What is it about Republicans in states with the hottest weather that they want to give outdoor workers all heat stroke?
Just as Texas did last year, Florida is on the cusp of banning local ordinances that dictate break times for water, shade and rest. The Florida Senate passed the measure 28-11 along party lines.
I guess the people who harvest our food in the torrid, humid summertime sun of Florida are disposable.
If they die, just replace them with all the compassion I have when I need to change a light bulb. Florida is following the Texas script line by line.
"Under state legislation under consideration, local governments would lose the ability to guarantee outdoor workers access to shade, clean water, rest breaks and even heat safety training. Instead, state lawmakers would have the sole authority to determine heat protection standards that go beyond federal rules."
Florida Republicans are using the same argument Texas lawmakers made when they shot down heat standards for workers. They said they didn't want a hodgepodge of rules across the states, saying that would be a burden on businesses.
The solution would have been to enact a statewide Texas heat standard but Republicans didn't want to do that for some reason.
Florida is taking the same tack: They don't want that "hodgepodge of rules" but they won't introduce a statewide standard.
Furthering the awfulness, the legislation removes protection for workers who report heat-related safety concerns and eliminates record keeping rules related to heat exposure.
To make this all even more insulting, the legislation bars Florida from enacting statewide heat safety rules until at least 2028? Why? I dunno. I guess the cruelty is the point.
I'd easily bet my next paycheck that Florida won't enact new heat laws in 2028, unless the current crop of Republicans are somehow voted out of office.
In pursuing this legislation, it appears Florida Republicans feared some rumblings from places like Miami-Dade County that would have enacted heat safety rules for workers. Apparently, such local ordinances are insufficiently sadistic to those lowly farm workers, landscapers, construction workers and the like.
The CDC recommends shade breaks and plenty of cool water for workers who must work during heat waves. However, there's no official rules to that effect from OSHA.
OSHA does have a general rule that workplaces be "free from recognized hazards that are causing or likely to cause death or serious physical harm," and the agency does list heat as a hazard. But those OSHA rules are almost never enforced.
Meanwhile, here's the reality for outdoor workers in Florida, as WLRN reports:
"Palmetto Gay resident Pedro Trejos, 41, has worked in construction for about two decades. His typical shift is eight hours, with one 30-minute lunch break. Some of the subcontractors that have employed hi don't offer water or rest breaks, Trejos explained in Spanish. And taking time off due to heat-related illness is risky, he said.
'The biggest issue I see is that if you want to take an involuntary leave of absence for yourself to cool off if you don't get permission from the boss and you don't show up for one or two days, the boss will fire you,' Trejo's said. 'They fire you almost in anticipation of a health problem surfacing later.'"
The heat illnesses Trejos says he sees sound very dangerous, including severe headaches, nosebleeds and weakness. That's a prelude to heat stroke, which is fatal if not treated quickly.
Trejos continued:
"One time a boss was being really excessive..... And he said we couldn't get down from the roof in the middle of the workday in order to drink water. And so I said, 'You know we have rights in this country as workers, and what the boss did was he said, 'You know what, here's your money for the time that you you worked, now is your time to leave.'"
Other than this so-called hodgepodge fear, I could find nothing in media reports as to why these Republicans are bullying outdoor workers like this.
The answer is probably a mix of racism, classism and a general disdain among some white Republicans towards anyone who they perceive as less successful than themselves.
(Editors note: I would regard all of those outdoor workers as far more successful individuals than the majority of Florida's legislature).
Don't you just love how some Americans think workers - particularly nonwhite ones, I must add - are just disposable pieces of cheap equipment. If they die, so what? I also wonder why these legislators seem to want people to die. What are they trying to prove?
I hope that those Florida Republicans come back in another life in a world much hotter than now rom climate change as outdoor farm workers that don't get water or rest breaks.
I wonder how long they'd last?
This assholery from the Florida GOP comes as climate change makes Florida summers even hotter. Oh, I forgot. Most of the GOPers think climate change is a hoax.
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