Heat stress: Call to prayer and action

Heat, thermometer shows the temperature is hot in the sky, Summer
NFWM joins with our farm worker partner PCUN in mourning the death of a farm worker on Saturday, June 19 from extreme heat at his workplace. Reyna Lopez of PCUN, a farm worker union in Oregon, said, “Shame on the employer that was reckless with the life of this employee, and on the state for lacking the foresight to do anything of substance for workers during this heatwave.” A sad reminder that we need to be working on national regulations for heat stress to protect farm workers and others who are required to work in similar conditions. Officials had not yet identified the man as of 6/30/21.
 
To act:

Support the “Asuncion Valdivia Heat Illness and Fatality Prevention Act” (HR3668) that requires the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to implement a national heat stress standard. 

Sign United Farm Workers’ Petition to demand better protections for those working in extreme heat.

Learn more: https://nfwm.org/resource-center/harvest-of-justice/farm-workers-the-environment-harvest-of-justice-2020/heat-stress/

 
To pray:

Let us begin by recalling the words of Cesar Chavez: “Every time we sit at a table at night or in the morning to enjoy the fruits and grain and vegetables from our good earth, remember that they come from the work of men and women and children who have been exploited for generations…” Almighty God, too often we don’t pay attention, we don’t stop to think that, even in this day and age, injustice remains an invisible ingredient in much of the food that we eat. Shake us awake, O God, open our eyes to see our power and obligation as consumers to help put things right. Justice demands it. Love demands it.

 
 
 
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