US workers launch Heat Week to fight for ‘the right to water, shade and rest’

In probably the hottest summer ever, workers are organizing in 13 cities to raise alarm about workplace heat exposure

As temperatures in Baltimore neared 100F earlier this month, 36-year-old sanitation worker Ronald Silver II died after he was found lying on the hood of a car and asking for water.

It's the kind of tragic workplace heat-related death that advocates say could have been avoided with the right labor protections. So this week, during what will probably be the US's hottest summer on record, frontline workers are organizing actions in 13 cities across the country, raising the alarm about workplace heat exposure.