Temperatures inside the truck Luis Fernando Ferrer drives from Elizabeth to Newark Airport can reach more than 100 degrees Fahrenheit, but he says his boss tells him there's no legal requirement to install air conditioning and to just open the windows if it gets too hot.
“How are we going to keep out the cold with the windows open in this heat?,” Ferrer said in Spanish. “It's only going to get hotter, so we need safety measures now for me and the other workers.”
Ferrer was one of dozens of workers who gathered in Elizabeth on Thursday to urge the Legislature to reconvene this summer to pass the bill. Statewide Safety Measures For workers exposed to extreme heat. They cook and deliver meals for airline passengers.
Activists from the labor advocacy group Make the Road New Jersey stood in the shade of a tree outside the workplace with about 30 Gate Gourmet employees, some still wearing hairnets, calling for basic worker protections like shade, paid breaks and access to cold water.
Their calls for change come nearly two years after the summer deaths of three Amazon workers in New Jersey, including Rafael Reinaldo Mota Frias. The family believes he suffered a cardiac arrest. If you are working in a very hot environment.
Federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration They say fever is the number one cause of death The report called it the hottest weather-related event in the country and noted that workers of color in essential jobs are disproportionately exposed to hot working conditions.
The bill, which has yet to receive final approval in Trenton, would provide safeguards to help employees avoid heatstroke and injury. Rep. Annette Quijano (D-Union) said the extreme heat New Jerseyans have faced recently makes it clear that lawmakers need to act immediately.
“There are workers in New Jersey who are suffering every day. They're working outdoors and cooking in indoor kitchens. We must protect them and make sure their employers are doing the right thing by them,” she said.
The bill would require employers to develop plans to monitor workers' heat exposure, provide cool water, ensure access to shade and cooler areas, limit the amount of time workers are outdoors in the heat, and coordinate emergency plans in case an employee is injured by excessive heat.
Business groups opposed the bill. When first introduced, standards already existed for outdoor workers, and federal heat stroke standards were: under developmentQuijano said he and the bill's sponsor, Sen. Joe Cryan (D-Union), are working on amendments to address some of the concerns expressed by business groups. The amendments can't be introduced until Congress has a quorum, and the House isn't expected to reconvene until September at the earliest.
Quijano said the bill has the support of Democrats and that passing it is a top priority, noting that it has been years in the making. Allowing illegal immigrants to get driver's licenses.
“I will do everything I can to get this bill passed, but I only have one vote. Look at what happened with driver's licenses. It took seven years and we can't let that happen again,” Quijano said. “We have to find a path to success.”
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