The Heat Stroke Lobby

Introducing a grotesque new powerhouse in Republican politics.

You know what the trouble is these days with agricultural and construction workers? They’re too goddamned thirsty! They work outdoors, they get to inhale all that glorious fresh air (with maybe a little dichloropropene or PM2.5 mixed in), and all they can think is boo hoo, I want more water, I want more shade, I want periodic breaks to prevent heat stroke. Fortunately Texas and now Florida have moved to bar softhearted local governments from addressing the problem of rising temperatures (which just happen, OK?) by mandating that employers treat their outdoor workers like human beings. Such local power grabs trample on the state and federal government’s prerogative to do nothing about it.

Of course nobody says any of that out loud (so far as I know), but that appears to be the sentiment of Republican-majority state legislatures these days (even if the reliably demagogic governors Ron DeSantis and Greg Abbott are taking a more low-key approach, uncertain how this monstrous sellout to local chambers of commerce will play politically). The Republican policy of encouraging growers and construction firms to fry their employees in the sun is the subject of my latest New Republic piece. You can read it here.