LOS ANGELES – In California, employers will soon have to provide water and air conditioned areas for workers when temperatures inside warehouses rise above 82 degrees. When it goes above 87, workers will get shorter shifts and personal cooling fans.
In Florida, when a 95-degree sun bears down on farmworkers, local governments are actually prohibited from making employers supply water or a break in the shade.
The split on heat-related labor protections tracks with the scorched-earth feud between the states’ Democratic and Republican governors, Gavin Newsom and Ron DeSantis. This divide on labor protections joins a wide range of differences between blue and red states on basic rights including abortion access, gun regulation and environmental protections. It’s also a reflection of the power dynamics in the coastal states: California is staunchly pro-labor, and Florida is business-dominant.
“You can look at safety standards in each state, whether it’s heat standards or others, and it’ll track with how union-dense those states are,” said Lorena Gonzalez, head of the California Labor Federation. “Workers don’t have the same rights in Florida that they have in California.”
