Fighting for a maximum working temperature in British Columbia

If you’ve been tuning in to rabble radio for a while, you’ll know that every summer, we return to a familiar —and vital— discussion: climate change is a labour issue. In the past, we’ve spoken about how extreme weather events affect working Canadians, how climate change affects agricultural workers and the economy, and we’ve chatted with advocates in Ottawa calling for a National Firefighting Agency. 

There’s no debate: climate change and labour are inextricably linked. 

Today on rabble radio, we’re spotlighting an organization in British Columbia calling for the implementation of a maximum working temperature.

The Worker Solidarity Network is urging the provincial government to introduce legislation that would protect workers from the dangers of extreme heat on the job.

Currently, BC has no regulations in place to set temperature limits in workplaces—but with the increasing threat of deadly heat waves, advocates say the time for action is now.

About our guest 

Jiyoon Ha is the communications coordinator at the Workers’ Solidarity Network based in British Columbia. WSN consists of workers throughout the province that share an invested interest in the well-being of precarious employees that struggle under capitalism. Ha brings five years of experience in the service industry to her role at the WSN. She was emboldened to fight for labour justice after growing up in a working-class community and having worked precarious jobs, where she experienced unfair working conditions that upheld harassment and wage theft, among other things.

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Fundraising music used with permission from: uppbeat.io/t/hartzmann/sunny License code: JJOU2WYAPVKYRO1H