'The Cruelty Olympics': TX Construction, Outdoor Workers Condemn Gov's Elimination of Water Breaks
- 'The cruelty Olympics’: Texas workers condemn elimination of water breaks,' The Guardian, Aug. 2, 2023. Ed.🥤
Outdoor workers express anger and fear of potential repercussions after governor rescinds mandatory breaks amid extreme heat.
Eva Marroquin is an outdoor worker who cleans up construction sites in the Austin area, where temperatures have surpassed 100F every day for weeks. In the summertime, it’s common for Marroquin to feel blistering heat as early as 8.30 in the morning. She is required to wear stifling layers of protective clothing. She has seen workers pass out from working in dangerous weather conditions, and she herself has experienced heat exhaustion at least 3 times during her career.
“I’d get really red in the face and feel very lethargic, like I didn’t have any strength to move, with my heart palpitating really fast,” she said. Marroquin relies on regular water breaks to get some relief. These breaks are obligatory under local law in Austin. But recently, amid a record-breaking heatwave, the Texas governor signed a bill that will rescind existing mandatory rest and water breaks for construction workers starting in September.
Outdoor workers like Marroquin and others are angry, as well as fearful of the potential repercussions. “It’s inhumane and cruel,” Marroquin said through a translator. “Taking a break is a very minimal, basic level of human rights.” A Republican who introduced the bill justified it on the basis that “progressive municipal officials and agencies have made Texas small businesses jump through contradictory and confusing hoops”.
The move has attracted national attention. Joe Biden criticized the bill – which critics have called the “Death Star” – at a White House event with the mayor of San Antonio. “The idea that you can’t have mandatory water breaks when you’re working on a construction? I mean, what are we doing here?” Taking water breaks is already a fraught practice in much of Texas. “We’ve heard from workers that taking rest breaks is very stigmatized in the construction industry, because that signifies potential delays to get projects completed,” said Christine Bolaños of Workers Defense Project...
- Read More, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/aug/02/texas-construction-worker-water-break-law-heat-exhaustion-abbott
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