Alejandra Hernandez stands next to a bag of donated clothes which are on their way to agricultural workers in Hammett, Idaho. The clothes are intended to help the farmworkers deal with the record-breaking high temperatures in Idaho this summer. Latinx Farmworkers of Southern Idaho is part of the Idaho Immigrant Resource Alliance (IIRA), who fundraises yearly and distributes funds among community leaders who purchase cooling and hydrating items for workers. The community leaders then go out and distribute these items to job or housing sites all over southern Idaho and other areas. (Photo by Kyle Green | InvestigateWest).
In a historic heatwave that covered the Northwest in June 2021, two workers died.
Sebastian Francisco Perez, a 38-year-old Guatemalan immigrant, collapsed in 100-degree heat while moving irrigation lines outside at a farm and nursery in St. Paul, Oregon. Just 500 miles away, a few days later, Ian Booth, a 33-year-old Idahoan working on a landscaping crew near Lewiston, Idaho, died of cardiac arrest from heat exposure.
Perez’s death in Oregon provoked quick action from Oregon’s governor and lawmakers, who implemented stricter rules for employers during extreme heat, including requirements for frequent breaks, and allocated state money to a relief fund for employees who miss work because of heat illnesses or smoke.
Since then, heat-related worker deaths in the state have gone down dramatically.
The reaction to Booth’s death in Idaho was much different, reflecting political resistance in some red states to enacting regulations to protect workers as summers get hotter, leaving them without strong state or federal protections.
Booth’s family raised just over $4,500 and quietly buried him. An obituary appeared in the local newspaper, The Lewiston Tribune, but aside from loving comments on his family members’ Facebook pages, Booth’s death got little public attention — and no action from local lawmakers.
For years, as summer temperatures have risen to record levels in the West, worker advocates have called for increased protections for people who work outside. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates that from 1992 to 2022, heat killed an average of 34 workers each year. Latino workers and other people of color are far more likely to suffer heat-related deaths and illnesses on the job. Some states like California, Oregon, and Washington have passed strict protections for workers in high temperatures that go beyond federal standards. But Idaho, which has over 100,000 agriculture and construction workers and produces over $10.8 billion worth of agricultural products each year, hasn’t.
Globally, this summer brought the highest recorded temperatures in history for two straight days. Idaho reached at least 105 degrees on a record nine days this summer. Oregon saw a record five days of triple-digit temperatures, and parts of Washington hit 93 or higher, breaking prior heat records.
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