Prepare for Heat Strike!

In 2025, the Unite union policy conference (7-11 July) heard of bus cab temperatures over 40ºC, and at least three drivers who were hospitalised from heat exhaustion.

Strengthening trade union organisation so workers are empowered to exercise our rights to refuse unsafe work is our main line of defence and the most effective way to force employers to act. Working in excessive heat, poses a serious and imminent danger to health and workers can refuse such work without detriment under section 44 of the Employment Rights Act 1996.

The Eco-Socialism Conference on 30 May at South Bank University, bit.ly/eco-so, will have a session on organising for “heat strike” activity in 2026.

The 2022 heatwave, when temperatures in the UK reached 40.3ºC, claimed 68,000 lives across Europe, including 2,803 in the UK. The 2025 heatwave is thought to have claimed 600 UK lives. These UK deaths are preventable.

Most humans for most of human history have lived in places where summer temperatures exceed 30ºC. But in the UK 90% of our buildings are ill-equipped for extreme heat, and there is no maximum working temperature in the UK.

“Reasonable”

Even in the UK, employers have a legal duty to provide a “reasonable” temperature.

Union safety reps should identify hotspots, and then demand the employer controls for workplace temperature by applying the “hierarchy of controls”. The most effective measures involve eliminating the hazard by preventing buildings getting hot in the first place. Even cheap retrofitting such as external blinds and painting roofs with reflective paint can substantially reduce indoor temperatures. Wide availability of cool drinking water on streets and work sites is important, too.

A white roof can reduce indoor temperatures by as much as 7ºC, and widespread use would bring a 2-3ºC reduction in the urban heat island effect.

As a stop-gap, many employers may offer air conditioning. It would be foolish to reject the offer on environmental grounds, though with better building design air conditioning should not be needed in the UK and similar latitudes except in specific workplaces (kitchens and bakeries, road and rail passenger transport etc.)