TOPSHOT - Traffic warden Rai Rogers mans his street corner during an 8-hour shift under the hot sun in Las Vegas, Nevada on July 12, 2023, where temperatures reached 106 degrees amid an ongoing heatwave. More than 50 million Americans are set to bake under dangerously high temperatures this week, from California to Texas to Florida, as a heat wave builds across the southern United States. (Photo by Frederic J. BROWN / AFP) (Photo by FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP via Getty Images)
Summers are always hot, but this summer has felt like no other. I live just outside of Reno, where we recently broke our record for the most consecutive 105 degree days. Unfortunately it doesn’t seem like we will get much reprieve.
Heat waves are getting longer and more intense, affecting more states and for longer periods of time. From heat-related illness and occupational injury to the exacerbation of preexisting conditions, extreme heat has dire consequences for our health and safety, especially in vulnerable populations.
I truly cannot fathom how certain leaders and elected officials can witness all this human suffering yet gleefully chant and support Big Oil and the fossil fuel industry, which are irrefutably linked to these growing problems. Climate change is real and it is here. We need leaders and policymakers who share our urgent concerns instead of mocking them.
Earlier this summer in Arizona, more than 300 people died from suspected heat-related illnesses when temperatures reached 118 degrees. Health risks from extreme heat include adverse birth outcomes, mental health impacts, cardiovascular diseases like heart attack and stroke, and more. Workers in outdoor and hot indoor settings are especially vulnerable, yet we currently do not have heat-specific federal legislation that protects workers from extreme heat, nor are we likely to, with 123 climate deniers sitting in Congress.
I’ve worked as a carpenter and drywall finisher for 30 years in Nevada, starting out as an apprentice, then journeyman, foreman, and superintendent. In my 30th year, I was supposed to retire, but instead, I became a union organizer for the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades (IUPAT). I have a deep connection with the union. It enabled me to have a life I would never have dreamed of.
Unionization to me is a collective for the workers themselves to gather power and dignity. It’s the key to the balance of power between not just business owners, the industry and workers, but it’s placing power into workers’ hands. Now it’s literally saving lives.
Even with something as simple yet essential as water, I see the power of the union through collective bargaining. Our union job sites keep coolers full of ice water available for workers all day, while non-union management sets out water bottles to bake in the sun.
Our union workers are able to move their working hours to start earlier and beat the heat. Non-union workers aren’t afforded that kind of common sense flexibility. None of the 14,000 members in my union have gotten a heat-related illness so far. I’m so grateful for it, it means the union is working as it’s supposed to. But non-union workers are dying out there.
From 1992 to 2022, construction workers made up 34% of all occupational heat-related deaths, a gross underestimation since extreme heat affects cognitive abilities and can lead to mistakes that cause death or injury. A car accident would not be listed as a heat-related death. Neither would a stroke or heart attack suffered by a worker after they returned home from a long work day in the heat.
Extreme heat is the leading weather-related killer in the United States, and yet the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has failed to protect workers from this hazard. OSHA officials often negotiate with business owners to reduce fines, choose not to penalize companies for worker deaths, and neglect record-keeping of heat-fatalities.
In July, the Biden-Harris Administration stepped up with a proposed OSHA rule that requires employers to develop prevention plans for heat-related illness and injury. It also implements work practice standards such as rest breaks, access to shade and water, and heat acclimatization for new employees. If finalized, this would be our country’s first-ever federal standard addressing excessive heat in the workplace. It feels like we are finally moving in the right direction, and we need to hold on to forward-thinking leaders to continue this great progress.
Under the Biden-Harris Administration, the Inflation Reduction Act also spurred vast amounts of clean energy investment in Northern Nevada, where the largest lithium deposit in the world can be found. They have taken more than 300 meaningful actions to address our climate crisis, creating hundreds of thousands of good-paying clean energy jobs while doing so. This is how leaders prioritize working families and building the middle class. This is how leaders hold stewardship.
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