New Orleans        Globally, more than 30 cities participated in ACORN’s Beat the Heat Day this summer.  Thermometers are clear, regardless of climate naysayers, it’s hotter outside than it has ever been.  Tenants need protection and many have joined ACORN campaigns in various countries like Canada and France to demand retrofits to deal with the crisis.

Workers who are forced to labor outside are also especially vulnerable.  Local 100 United Labor Unions joining with ACORN’s affiliate in Louisiana, A Community Voice, joined together to work with a city councilman, Oliver Thomas, to write, introduce, and last week succeed in passing a New Orleans ordinance to give workers some relief.  This first victory only protects workers in the city who are under contract, like the garbage workers and city building cleaners we represent.  They will have to get breaks and water when certain temperature level are exceeded.

ACORN India’s work in building a gig workers’ union in various cities from Bihar to Delhi is also having an impact.  Regardless of the heat, the workers have to make the deliveries, so getting some agreements with companies about best practices so that they can get relief as been critical – and successful in some case.

A survey in the Times, looked at progress in other countries, nothing that,

This summer it was so hot in southern Europe, where temperatures passed 115 degrees Fahrenheit, that local governments in many areas of Greece, Italy and Spain ordered outdoor work to stop in the afternoons for several weeks. Japan, reeling from one of its worst heat waves on record, required employers to protect workers from heat stroke risks or face $3,400 fines. In Singapore, employers must install sensors to measure heat and humidity levels every hour at large outdoor work sites, and provide relief accordingly.

The report adds that Spain at different heat markers either suspends or shortens outdoors work.  In Greece, the government has ordered work to stop in some regions when different heat waves went above 100 Fahrenheit.  Some Italian regions banned outdoor work in the afternoons during the summer heat waves.

In the United States, much of the progress is going to have to be local, since the Trump administration has pulled back the DOL measures for heat protection that had been enacted under the Biden presidency.  Boston, for example, like New Orleans, has enacted a “heat illness prevention plan.”  Seven states – California, Colorado, Maryland, Minnesota, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington – have developed heat protection standards, although Florida and Texas won’t allow any protection.  Others are coming, but many are vague, depend on employers, and lack any real enforcement mechanism.

The WHO estimates that 2.4 million workers face heat stress.  In a recent report, they estimated that “heat leads to occupational illnesses among nearly 23 million workers a year, including kidney damage, dehydration and heatstroke, “all of which hinder long-term health and economic security,” it said. Roughly 19,000 workers die every year in heat-related injuries and illnesses, the report estimated.”

This is a community and labor fight we need to make everywhere, and that we need to lead.