With great passion this Friday, a dozen workers were optimistic about the announcement that he would create a law that would allow them to have better environmental conditions in their workplaces.
Juan Mendoza has felt it firsthand, both the extreme heat of summer and the freezing temperatures of the harsh winter.
Mendoza.
“Sometimes you feel like you’re fainting because of the same temperature, on other occasions we also work in different places with excruciating cold,” said Mendoza, a construction worker.
Like him, several workers from the Teamsters Local 237 union told one by one their bitter experiences working in companies like UPS, where their trucks lack heating. Or the case of other Latino workers who work in clothing stores or factories where there is no heating or air conditioning.
“In the summer, dehydration due to lack of water, lack of a place where you can cool down, we have suffered from fainting, colleagues who have fainted in their workplace,” explained Elizabeth Arias, another construction worker.
Faced with this reality, electrical officials from the state and the city of NY presented legislation that would force the owners of companies and workplaces in the state to protect their employees from heat and cold.
“But also protections so that workers feel empowered to report dangerous conditions to the Department of Labor (of Labor) without having to fear retaliation,” said state Senator Jessica Ramos.
“The Extreme Temperature Mitigation Program is the next phase of our efforts to make sure workers return safely from work.
“You deserve protection against air conditioning, hydration, rest and whistleblowers. Too hot, too cold, exploitation has to go!” the senator also wrote in a message on social networks.
The Temperature Extreme Mitigation Program is the next phase of our efforts to make sure workers return whole and healthy from work.
You deserve air conditioning, hydration, rest, & whistleblower protections. Too hot, too cold, exploitation’s gotta go! pic.twitter.com/Yza82SMv4L
—Jessica Ramos (@jessicaramos) February 10, 2023
Especially when those affected are immigrants.
“Unfortunately, due to their immigration status, most of our workers cannot say anything, they cannot do anything because there are consequences, they can be fired,” said Severiano Cuenca, from La Colmena.
“They have told us… ‘no, you must continue working because that is what you are going to take home, the money we pay you,’ but it is not like that because we are putting our lives at risk,” added the Mendoza worker.
Senator Ramos hopes that the bill will be approved in the plenary session of the state Senate and that it will be signed by Governor Kathy Hochul at the latest by the end of the year.
