Farmworkers in the US cultivate their own heat safety standards
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While regulations to protect agricultural workers from the heat have been held up by political wrangling, Gonzalo and her colleagues have spearheaded an alternate strategy.
They seek to sidestep the slow and increasingly politicised government machinery and instead appeal directly to consumers and large brands.
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The companies pledge to pay fair wages, eliminate sexual harassment and other issues - including increasingly stringent heat protections - in return for Fair Food Program certification for their products.
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The U.S. government has dragged its feet on worker heat protections for decades, said Juanita Constible, a senior advocate with the heat solutions programme at the Natural Resources Defense Council.
About 51 million U.S. workers are at high risk to heat, with less than a fifth of those covered by standards, the think tank has found.
The federal government is only now updating 1970s rules, last week releasing a proposal that would offer heat protections for indoor and outdoor workers, including requiring employers to provide workers with water and shaded or air-conditioned areas above certain temperatures.
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