Representative Greg Casar (D-Tex) held an eight-hour thirst strike this week on the steps of the Capitol to raise awareness about worker conditions during heat waves. Casar also used the strike to draw attention to Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s move last month to rescind local ordinances that established mandatory 10-minute water breaks for construction workers every four hours. The bill also stopped other local governments from passing similar protections. 

JULEY FULCHER; jfulcher@citizen.org 
    Fulcher is the worker health and safety advocate at Public Citizen.

Fulcher told the Institute for Public Accuracy: “The strike is a very helpful tool to educate people––the public as well as members of Congress. This is an opportunity to draw attention to the issue [of workplace heat risk] and help people understand why it’s so critical to do something about it.

“Texas is uniquely problematic [in this realm], as it doesn’t have its own OSHA.” (About half of U.S. states have their own OSHA.) Workers in Texas see less workplace protections than in many other states. “This latest bill that [Abbott] signed is outrageous, especially in the context of the heat waves going on down there when he signed it. It’s one thing to not do anything to protect workers. It’s another to actively make it so that others can’t protect workers.”