Received from: ASLEF
Congress notes the progress made since ASLEF’s motion to Congress in 2022 calling for the General Council to lobby for a legal maximum workplace temperature and commends the ongoing campaign to introduce a maximum workplace temperature.
Congress is however concerned that the current UK government’s intention to review health and safety guidance to reference extreme temperatures will not deliver the required changes. Congress still believes that introducing legislation to set a maximum temperature and ensure employers have a duty to address and mitigate circumstances of working in extreme temperatures is needed.
At present, employers in the transport sector often advise workers to drink plenty of water when working in hot weather but often fail to then provide access to appropriate welfare facilities – an issue we highlight in our Dignity for Drivers campaign.
Congress is further concerned with the increase in anti-net zero rhetoric being exhibited by populist parties such as Reform UK and the impact such policies would have on the climate leading to more extreme temperatures and ultimately the worsening of working conditions and job losses.
Congress calls on the TUC General Council to:
i. intensify the campaign for a maximum workplace temperature by highlighting the realities for workers across multiple sectors of working in extreme heat
ii. continue to publicly call out the dangers of climate change denial and the anti-net zero rhetoric with a focus on the impact such policies will have on workers.
ASLEF