US workers facing deadly heat borrow from tomato pickers to win key protections

As efforts to protect people from extreme heat stall, organizers are embracing an approach that targets major brands’ reputations “It’s the kind of heat that makes you feel like you’re being dehydrated, like your skin is drying out,” said Lucas Benitez, after harvesting watermelons with his sons and wife this summer.

“The heat that we had 30 years ago is not nearly the heat that we have today.” This summer was the hottest on record in the US, and most workers in fields, greenhouses and unconditioned indoor facilities still do not have heat protections on the job, putting their health at risk as the climate crisis is expected to make extreme heat more frequent and intense.

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