Yeah, he's seriously an asshole. I just moved down to Miami from NJ, and even though it gets really hot and humid up there, it's stupid hot down here. The humidity makes a massive difference. Today, it was 78 and about 55% humidity and a relatively low dew point, and it was comfortable. Yesterday, it was also 78, but like 80% humidity and high dew point, and it was sweltering. In my dance class, I was literally drenched in sweat even though the people that had been down here for a while weren't.
It's very rational when you are a Republican bigot and you know that basically all of those workers are poor and most of them minorities, many of whom are immigrants. Fucking over poor and brown people is the rational thing to do when you want a white ethnostate with chattel slavery.
Ensuring workers don't overheat is the more profitable thing to do, they are giving up some profit specifically to harm those in the working class that they hate.
The state of course prevents one from defending oneself against such clear attacks. This is why the state (not Florida, the state) is the problem.
I don't really have a strong opinion as to the right way to go on this, but from a purely legal-technical standpoint, is there a good reason for having the rule made at the state level rather than the local?
I mean, ordinarily I'd think that it tends to make sense to let things be legislated at a low level unless there's a reason not to.
If a locality over-protects workers against heat then, okay, they suffer economically and maybe people and business head to the next town over. I'd think that that'd self-resolve without the state getting involved.
And if a municipality underprotects against heat? What happens?
People die of heat stroke, that's what happens. And the municipality maybe changes the law, but only after someone dies.
Protections in this situation are at the federal and state level because the consequences of doing them wrong are much more than just "suffering economically."
And because worker deaths aren't always a strong enough motivator at the local level. Frankly, not every town cares about their migrant workers and other working class folks, especially if labor is divided along racial and/or class lines.