What They’re Saying About Asunción Valdivia Heat Illness, Injury and Fatality Prevention Act

WASHINGTON – As temperatures around the world hit record highs, Ranking Member Robert C. “Bobby” Scott, House Committee on Education and the Workforce, along with a bipartisan, bicameral group of members, introduced legislation to ensure the safety and health of workers who are exposed to dangerous heat conditions in the workplace. Here is what leading advocates and experts are saying about the Asunción Valdivia Heat Illness, Injury, and Fatality Prevention Act:

UFW President Teresa Romero: “Every worker safety rule in America is written in blood, the UFW has been fighting for heat safety protections for decades.  Over 20 years later, Asuncion Valdivia’s death still hurts.  There are so many other farm workers — many whose names we do not know — who have also been killed by extreme heat on the job in the years since.  Enough is enough. Every farm worker deserves access to water, shade, and paid rest breaks — it’s past time for Congress get this done.”

AFSCME President Lee Saunders: “Too many workers – including AFSCME members – have lost their lives on the job as a result of blistering heat waves and record-breaking temperatures. As the number of heat-related illnesses and fatalities continue to rise, it is well past time we adopt nationwide safeguards to better protect the workers who maintain our infrastructure, keep our streets clean, harvest our food, and keep our economy moving. We at AFSCME thank Senator Padilla and Representative Chu for introducing the Asunción Valdivia Heat Illness, Injury, and Fatality Prevention Act, which will ensure essential workers who brave the heat can do their jobs safely and effectively, and most importantly, make it home alive.”

Liz Shuler, President of the AFL-CIO: “Everyone deserves safe working conditions, but powerful corporations have not done enough to protect their workers from hot working environments, exacerbated by the climate crisis. Extreme heat is increasingly causing indoor and outdoor workers to collapse or even die on the job, and our union family has already lost too many members to preventable, work-related heat illness.  The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) must issue a strong heat rule, not a weak one, to ensure workers have specific protections they need and to be able to raise unsafe working conditions without fear of retaliation.”

Roy Houseman, Legislative Director of United Steelworkers: “For the Steelworkers Union, we represent workers in manufacturing settings and in a host of other areas where not only is it hot outside, but the areas that they work around are as hot as up to 3,000 degrees and they must wear protective equipment.  The Asunción Valdivia Heat, Illness, Injury, and Fatality Prevention Act is important because it will provide a basic standard for not just outdoor, but indoor workplaces as well to ensure that there is proper rest breaks and the ability to stay cool. The Steelworkers are absolutely supportive of this bill and are going to work with Republicans and Democrats to ensure that heat illness is the last thing a worker should worry about.”

Teamsters General President Sean M. O’Brien: “It’s long past time for meaningful legislation to protect Teamsters and other workers from the effects of prolonged heat exposure and dangerous heat levels while at work. Paid breaks in cool spaces, access to water, and limitations on time exposed to heat are simple common sense steps that should be mandated immediately.  Waiting to implement these measures is unacceptable and will result in the further loss of lives.”

Ernesto Archila, Climate and Financial Regulation Policy Director, Public Citizen: “Workers in America are facing unprecedented dangers from climate-driven heat and extreme weather, and things are only getting worse. It is far past time for a strong national standard to protect workers from illness and death caused by exposure to extreme heat. The provisions mandated in this bill, including temperature triggers, acclimatization, water, shade and paid rest breaks, would save countless lives. They represent a common sense and common decency approach that employers could quickly adopt.  American workers deserve no less, and they urgently need it. Today, OSHA is in the final stage of issuing a final rule on this issue.  It is imperative that the rule maintain the integrity and high standards called for in the Asuncíon Valdivia Heat Illness, Injury, and Fatality Prevention Act. We applaud Senators Padilla, Markey, and Cortez Masto and Representatives Chu, Adams, and Scott, as well as the dozens of Senators and Congresspersons who have joined them in this long effort.  It’s time to bring a high quality, protective standard to the finish line for American workers”

Anastasia Christman, Senior Policy Analyst, National Employment Law Project: “Every summer high temperature records get broken in states across the country, and while public health officials urge residents to stay inside and stay safe millions of workers have to report for work.  From fields to warehouses, airports to schools, construction sites to manufacturing plants, and many more industries, too many workers are at risk of not getting home safely at the end of the day due to exposure to heat on the job.  We know how to prevent these dangers. In fact, both outdoor and indoor workers in states like Oregon, California, and Maryland have strong, enforceable protections in place already. And in Washington, Colorado, and Minnesota at least some categories of workers are being kept safe from heat. But millions labor in other states where there are no protections; worker safety is left to the federal government in these states, and absent strong rules workers are left to protect themselves and hope for the best. We must extend workplace protections from heat to all workers. The National Employment Law Project thanks Senator Padilla and Representative Chu, as well as the dozens of Senators and Congresspersons who have cosponsored the Asunción Valdivia Heat Illness, Injury, and Fatality Prevention Act of 2025.”

The Asunción Valdivia Heat Illness, Injury, and Fatality Prevention Act also has the support of a broad coalition of over 250 groups, including: Rural Coalition, International Brotherhood of Teamsters, AFL-CIO, UNITE HERE! Communication Workers of America, Alianza Nacional de Campesinas, Sierra Club, United Farm Workers, Farmworker Justice, Public Citizen, International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers, United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, Union of Concerned Scientists, United Steelworkers, National Resources Defense Council, American Lung Association, and Health Partnerships.

To read the fact sheet on the Asunción Valdivia Heat Illness, Injury, and Fatality Prevention Act, click here. 

To read the section-by-section on the Asunción Valdivia Heat Illness, Injury, and Fatality Prevention Act, click here.

To read the bill text of the Asunción Valdivia Heat Illness, Injury, and Fatality Prevention Act, click here.

###