Florida’s Senate has banned local protections for outdoor workers facing extreme heat.
When Qatar became the first Arab, Muslim-majority and Middle Eastern country to host the World Cup, European countries were quick to criticise workers’ rights and working conditions, with threats to boycott the event. Intense scrutiny was placed on how the authorities there dealt with excessive desert heat during construction.
The safety of workers is paramount. But that criticism was laced with dog-whistles of prejudice so poorly masked they were almost audible.
Within a few years, we see Republican lawmakers in Florida banning the protections that cities and counties were introducing for outdoor workers.
What Florida Passed
On 5 March 2024 the Republican-controlled Senate voted 28–11, along party lines, to pass Senate Bill 1492. The bill prohibits local governments from setting workplace heat standards beyond the federal minimum — in effect stripping cities and counties of the power to require water breaks and rest in the shade during the working day.
Florida Senate passes bill blocking local rules protecting workers from heat — NBC News, by Denise Chow, 6 March 2024.
Meanwhile, in Qatar
In May 2021 the International Labour Organization reported that new legislation in Qatar provided greater protection from heat stress: prohibited summertime working hours were extended by four weeks, and annual health checks for workers were introduced.
New legislation in Qatar provides greater protection to workers from heat stress — ILO, 27 May 2021.
The Principle
Protection of workers from harmful environmental conditions must be a universal right. The rights of workers in the developed world are equal to the rights of workers everywhere else. We must speak out against this abuse of workers.
Shared by the South African Muslim Network (SAMNET) in the interest of safer working conditions for workers.
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