2023-07-17 23:15:06
The Lament of the Texas Workers
An AFP journalist interviewed construction workers in Texas, where the temperature exceeds 40°. He says: Perched on a platform to paint a 10-meter high wall in the intense Texas heat, Maynor Alvarez suddenly felt feverish.
Men work on the light-rail line during hot weather in downtown Houston, Texas, U.S., July 14, 2023. REUTERS/Adrees Latif — © ADREES LATIF / REUTERS
“I have suffered from heatstroke before. And you know what that does? Cramps in the legs and arms, headaches, a desire to vomit and palpitations”, specifies Maynor Alvarez, house painter of Guatemalan origin. “But when I complain to my supervisor, who is downstairs, he tells me to keep working (…) I’m going down because I can’t take it anymore (…) If I had stayed five more minutes, I wouldn’t wouldn’t be here to tell you regarding it.”
These days, workers and their representatives are demonstrating in Houston once morest a recent law approved by the Republican Governor of Texas, Greg Abbott, questioning the right of construction workers in cities like Dallas or Austin to take a hydration break every the four hours.
The law, which is due to come into effect in September, does not ban these hydration breaks but intends to harmonize regulations at the state level on a range of topics related to labor law or agriculture, rather than leaving the municipalities, usually Democrats, legislate on the subject.
During the rally in Houston, AFP tells AFP, Luz Martinez, also a construction worker, recounts how she had to work in a 20-story building where workers had to go down to the ground floor to drink outside. . “On July 4, a public holiday (in the United States), we were renovating a school, in an enclosed space, without air conditioning because there are some who do not want to pay for electricity”, she explains, remembering ‘a colleague who felt unwell. “We are dying. Depriving us of water, of breaks to hydrate ourselves, is not fair,” she adds.
For this weekend, record temperatures are expected in the state, including 46 ° C Saturday in Corpus Christi, in the south.
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