DeSantis To Florida Outdoor Workers: Drop Dead

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed legislation banning
municipalities from enacting regulations that would
give outdoor workers necessary things like
shade breaks and cool water during hot weather.
The cruelty is the point, apparently. 

 You might have seen a headline I wrote back on March 7 that looks about the same as the one on this post. 

You'd remember correctly. I wrote, "Florida Republicans To Outdoor Workers: Drop Dead."  That's because Republicans were working on legislation that would ban Florida towns and cities from enacting ordinances that protect outdoor workers from excessive heat and humidity. 

Well, Republicans passed the measure and Florida Gov Ron DeSantis just signed the measure. 

The ban on protecting workers from dangerous heat in one of the hottest states in the nation was in response to worker heat regulations under consideration in Miami-Dade County. It was the only one of Florida's 66 counties considering heat protection rules for outdoor workers. 

DeSantis said the statewide ban on heat regulations came from opponents of such rules in Miami-Dade. DeSantis added the heat rule there "was going to cause a lot of problems down there."  He did not specify what those problems would be. 

My suspicions are that part of the reason DeSantis and his minions don't want to see heat safety regulations is that many outdoor workers are Hispanic, and there a number of migrants among that group. 

You have to be as cruel to non-whites as possible to be a Republican in good standing these days.

The actual talking point has been that business can't afford to deal heat regulations that vary from town to town across Florida.

As Florida Politics reported:

"'Running a small business is never easy, but it's even harder when owners have to contend with a patchwork of local and sometimes contradictory rules and regulations,' said Bill Herbie, National Federation of Independent Business Florida state director, in a written statement supporting the bill signing."

The obvious solution to that problem would be to enact a statewide worker heat protection law, but tellingly, Florida's Republican-led legislature, and DeSantis, never introduced or supported such a law.  There was vague talk of looking at such regulations in 2028.  Even if they were being honest, why wait?

Frustratingly, I can't find any news articles in which reporters pressed lawmakers on why statewide heat regulations are a bad idea, other than business groups oppose them. I guess they think heat regulations would save them money, which of course is way, way more important than workers' lives in their minds. 

I'm also not sure how risking workers' lives in hot weather is a smart business plan, but what do I know? I guess the cruelty is the point.

There's evidence that heat regulations can actually save businesses money. Some states and munipalites have heat safety regulations.  As NPR reports:

"California was the first to establish regulations in 2006. They require employers to provide shade, rest breaks, and access to cool, clean water for outdoor workers. After the rules were implemented, heat-related workers compensation claims dropped, according to a 2021 study from UCLA."

In any event, labor groups were understandably livid at this Florida bill signing.

"'It's no surprise that Gov. DeSantis signed this cruel and terrible bill late at night; that's what you do when you're embarrassed about what you're signing,' said Jessica E. Martinez, co-executive director of the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health, a labor-oriented organization," reported islandernews.com  

The federal government has a general rule that workplaces should be "free from recognized hazards that are causing or likely to cause death or serious physical harm," but nothing specific on heat. So federal regulations are no help.  Congress could enact nationwide heat safety laws, but I don't see that coming any time in the near or distant future.

Texas last year also enacted rules preventing municipalities from instituting heat protection for workers. Same arguments.

Florida and Texas seem determined to torture outdoor workers via hot weather even as heat waves worsen as climate change escalates.  Other states, learning lessons from those climate fueled heat waves, are moving in the opposite direction. 

 After extreme, record-shattering heat in 2021 that caused several deaths, Washington and Oregon instituted hot weather protections for outdoor workers. 

It looks like there will be a patchwork of regulations that business lobbying groups say they oppose. Some states, like Texas and Florida, will just regard workers who die of heat stroke just dumb machinery that broke.

Other states, like California, will regard outdoor workers as, well, human beings. Different regulations will probably be introduced in other states, some humane, some not. 

And in the not-so-humane states, some of the people out in the hot sun picking your tomatoes and building your silly resort hotels, and landscaping those resorts will get sick and or die, because providing shade breaks and cool water is just way to "woke" to consider, apparently. 

 

Florida Republicans To Outdoor Workers: Drop Dead

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. 

 On June 20, 2023, I headlined a post in this here blog thingy as such: "Texas To Summer Construction Workers: Drop Dead."

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. 

As WLRN reports:

"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.  

Texas To Summer Construction Workers: Drop Dead

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed legislation that 
prevents cities in Texas from mandating water
breaks for construction workers toiling in
the state's excessive heat. 

 Politics and politicians in Texas tend to be awful, to put it mildly. 

One of millions of examples came to light this week. 

Apparently, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and a majority of the state's legislature do not care if construction workers die of heat stroke. 

The rule that Abbott signed into law eliminates local ordinances that mandate 10-minute water breaks every four hours for construction workers in hot weather. 

According to the Texas Tribune:

"The law's scope is broad but ordinances that establish breaks in the workplace are one of the explicit targets. The law will nullify ordinances enacted by Austin in 2010 and Dallas in 2015 that establish 10-minute breaks every four hours so that construction workers can drink water and protect themselves from tree sun. It also prevents other cities from passing such rules in the future. San Antonio has been considering a similar ordinance."

Abbott and others justify this by saying that a hodgepodge of local laws and ordinances is a burden on businesses. Which is actually probably true. 

So instead of getting rid of the ordinances, why not establish a blanket statewide law mandating these water breaks?

I guess because the Texas "elite" regards construction workers as just cattle and machines, and who cares if some of them drop dead in the heat? Just replace 'em.  Bonus: The replacement can be paid a lower wage than the lazy bum who had gall to die on a 110 degree afternoon. 

No regard for human life here. Which is ironic given Texas Republicans' obsession with abortion bans. 

Democrats in the Texas legislature did file bills that would create a statewide rule mandating water breaks, but those filings went nowhere in the Republican controlled Texas Statehouse. 

Summertime in Texas makes a Vermont heat wave look like a lovely February ski vacation. Temperatures routinely top 100 degrees in the summer. Humidity drives heat indices into the 110s or higher. Absolutely brutal and dangerous conditions for outdoor workers. 

As Texas Tribune points out:

"Texas is the state where the most workers die from high temperatures, government data shows. At least 42 workers died in Texas between 2011 and 2021 from environmental heat exposure, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. 

Workers' unions claim this data doesn't fully reflect the magnitude of the problem because heat-related deaths are often recorded under a different primary cause of injury."

The new rule signed by Abbott and pushed by Texas Republicans will probably cause more construction industry deaths in Texas.  

"'Construction is a deadly industry. Whatever the minimum protection is, it can save a life. We are talking about a human life,' said Ana Gonzalez, deputy director of policy and politics at the Texas AFL-CIO. 'We will see more deaths, especially in Texas' high temperatures.'" reports the Texas Tribune. 

Given that the majority of Texas construction workers are Hispanic, I also whiff some racism in this deadly new law. 

The elimination of the local water break rules doesn't take effect until September 1, but even the timing of Abbott's signature seems cruel.

He signed the bill as most of Texas is enduring record breaking high temperatures and in many places, oppressive humidity. The heat index in one south Texas town the other day was 135 degrees.

 I wonder how Texas Republicans would do laying asphalt or installing roofs during the excessive heat warnings that are now in place across much of Texas, including the big cities of Houston, Dallas, Austin and San Antonio.

Even that 10-minute water break once every four hours seems woefully inadequate. OSHA does not have heat stress standards for workers, according to the CDC.

However, some states do. 

The CDC recommends employers ensure workers take breaks in the shade and drink plenty of water.  They should schedule hotter jobs during cooler periods of the day, or postpone such work until after a cold front has passed. Construction companies should also provide larger coolers full of chilly water in which worker can immerse their arms and such to lower their body temperature.

And, the CDC says, construction bosses should demand an employee stop work if they are showing signs of heat-related illness. 

 I'm sure a number of Texas construction companies hew to these CDC recommendations.  But I'm also sure other construction companies and other employers don't.  

Every business wants and needs to be profitable. But if the profits come at the cost of heat-related deaths, is the money worth it?

To some employers, Texas lawmakers and Abbott, the answer to that question is apparently "Yes."