Outdoor workers in Miami-Dade looking for water, breaks and shade from the sweltering South Florida sun went to their politicians for help.
But after powerful pushback from agriculture and construction lobbyists, the County Commission this past Tuesday put an end to a bill that would’ve protected 80,000 outdoor workers.
Commissioners withdrew the bill because they couldn’t legally pass it after Florida’s Legislature passed a measure banning any local government from setting its own heat enforcement rules.
Commissioner Marleine Bastien, co-sponsor of the bill, said they withdrew the bill because of the state’s preemption. Bastien said she still hopes there’s a possibility of bringing the bill back in some form.
“My heart is heavy, but I am not giving up on ways to protect outdoor workers,” Bastien said to the Miami Herald.
The yearslong effort from WeCount, a worker-advocacy group, to pass heat protection legislation came to a head this summer — the hottest year on record. For 46 days, Miami’s heat index topped 100 degrees every afternoon. It’s a problem that climate change is only making worse, scientists say.
Esteban Wood, the policy director of WeCount, said the fight doesn’t end here.
“WeCount is going to regroup; the issue is not going away. Extreme heat is getting worse as summer approaches, and the county has a responsibility to protect outdoor workers from extreme heat,” Wood said.
But even before the Legislature banned counties from setting their own heat protection rules, the majority of commissioners didn’t support the bill. In November, their main objection was “unnecessary regulation” that singled out the agriculture and construction industry.
“This is an overreaching and outrageous heat sanction on only two industries,” Commissioner Danielle Cohen Higgins said at a November commission meeting. “This ordinance could potentially kill industry.”
Critics of the local bill say the rules are redundant. They argue that the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration already issues fines for unsafe working conditions, including for violations related to heat. But while OSHA is working on a heat protection standard for outdoor workers nationwide, it could be years before the draft rule is introduced.
Despite academic research showing the toll that extreme heat takes on outdoor workers and anecdotal stories from Miami-Dade’s farm workers, the proposed policy was unpopular with employers, who voiced concerns with commissioners.
Miami-Dade’s bill was watered down from its original intention of ensuring water and mandated breaks for half the year to only be effective for five days a year on average, with no fines, after a concerted lobbying effort from Florida’s politically influential agriculture and real estate industry.
Wood said WeCount is committed to finding “bold solutions” at all levels, including exploring protections outside of the legislative process.
This month, WeCount went to Palm Beach for a farmworker festival rallying support for the Fair Food Program – a legal contract between outdoor workers and fast-food restaurants and grocers to buy from farms that follow a strict code of conduct.
In 2021, the Fair Food Program’s code of conduct was revised to include protections from rising temperatures.
As part of the Fair Food Program, growers must provide 10-minute breaks every two hours where workers must stop what they are doing. Workers also are required to get electrolyte drinks during hotter months. That’s largely what workers were initially seeking in the Miami-Dade ordinance.
“We are disappointed by the result but this does not stop in any way our momentum to protect our outdoor workers,” Wood said.
This story was produced in partnership with the Florida Climate Reporting Network, a multi-newsroom initiative founded by the Miami Herald, the South Florida Sun Sentinel, The Palm Beach Post, the Orlando Sentinel, WLRN Public Media and the Tampa Bay Times.
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