https://archive.is/2CsfM

House Bill 2127, which takes effect on Sept. 1, will do away with local rules that require water breaks for construction workers. The cities of Austin and Dallas, for example, require 10-minute breaks every four hours. San Antonio officials had been considering a similar ordinance.

“We are human beings who need respect,” Martínez said. “We really need to be allowed to work without problems, without any barriers … Believe me, we are dying inside those buildings when they take away our water and our [break] time.”

  • Mongostein@lemmy.ca
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    1 year ago

    The law is a ten minute break every four hours?? That’s fucking bullshit already!

    Where I live it 15 minutes after 2.5 hours if you’re only working 5 hours or less. 2 hours if you’re you’re there all day, t b you get your 30-minute lunch after 4 hours, then a fifteen minute break every two hours worked after that.

    • masterofn001@lemmy.ca
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      1 year ago

      I worked at a concrete yard in Ontario, Canada for a few years. Breaks due to heat were given based on temps. At one point it was 15 minute breaks with Gatorade provided - every hour.

      Americans desperately need to reestablish the proper hierarchy of power.

      You have removed child labor laws across a number of states, human rights are basically done, labor has returned to 19th century standards.

      So much blood was lost for nothing.

      • Mongostein@lemmy.ca
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        1 year ago

        I see the same rhetoric moving in to Canada. It’s disheartening to see our closest friends and allies suffer while the disease causing it tries to creep it’s way in here.

        • dangblingus@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          Fuck communism. Socialism is fine. You don’t need the government owning every single business and paying people out income equalization and food vouchers. Put the power back in the people’s hands.

          • Soggy@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            Communism is the power in the people’s hands. Classless, stateless society in which the means of production are controlled by the workers and used for the benefit of the many.

          • 🏳️‍⚧️ 新星 [she/they]@lemmygrad.ml
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            1 year ago

            Put the power back in the people’s hands.

            Isn’t that what the literal goal of communism is? Under capitalism, it’s in the bourgeoisie’s hands.

            A socialist state would be great though! :)

          • RaincoatsGeorge@lemmy.zip
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            1 year ago

            Tell me you don’t know what communism or socialism is without telling me you don’t know what communism or socialism is…

  • onionbaggage@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    If an employer doesn’t allow you a water break in this heat then it’s time to leave them without employees.

  • Kodemystic@lemmy.kodemystic.dev
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    1 year ago

    Oh man… what sort of people come up with these laws? It’s already bad enough to only have 10 minutes every 4 hours, now they want to take that away too? Wtf is happening.

    • Zron@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      A governor who made his millions off of suing a property owner when a tree fell and broke his back.

      Never worked a hard day in his life, let alone worked outside.

      Someone should wheel him outside on one of these 100+ degree days and tell him he can’t drink until his 8 hours are over.

  • Saneless@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    If the politicians can do those jobs under those conditions for a week, have at it

    The actual benefit would be some state reps would die during the exercise, and well, that’s enough

    • BoopsieBoop@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Sure, to a reasonable human, it’s simple. But take into consideration terrible bosses and ceos that only care about profits and you get businesses that threaten you if you sit for 5 minutes.

      • _sideffect@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        It’s why they want people to stay poor as well, because then you can’t leave the job or strike without pay, as you can’t afford it, so you have to keep working and hope change comes through laws (which if it ever does, it takes years)

  • Nocuras@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    And here I am contemplating what kind of world we live in where people working a regular job can’t just get up and go drink as much as they need whenever they need… I mean ok sure don’t drop the heavy steel beam you carry with a coworker until you have it in place, but after you finished a task it shouldn’t take more than a “I’m going to take a drink” and off you go. Also sure be prepared to face consequences if you don’t get anything done… But it surely can’t be more detrimental to your work output to drink for a minute every so often than not drinking at all and getting fatigue etc.

    • MagicalPanda@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      In most parts of the USA most children are taught to ask for things such as water and bathroom breaks at school, up til senior year of highschool. When the kids do not listen they are reprimanded/punished. This leads to brainwashing. Some young adults never do break out of the habit of asking. This leads to situations of dehydration and death.

      It’s straight up bizarre having a 25 year old man walk up to me(30F) and ask to use the restroom or get a drink of water. Granted I was also brainwashed til about 22. It dawned on me one day it was straight up dumb to ask for water or to use the restroom.

      • AA5B@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        I don’t see how school is the same scenario at all. In school, you have a natural break every 45 minutes or so, and can choose to do your business then, rather than disrupt class for everyone. Also, kids do need to learn some control, to pick appropriate times when you can. Most importantly, too many kids abuse the freedom to disrupt or skip class: they have no reason to care about a reprimand whereas an adult probably has their income on the line.

        Of course, after saying that, I do have to add that my ex is a teacher who does not want kids to ask. She controls the potential for abuse with a token (beanie baby) allowing only two to go at once, and she has the privilege of a private school with higher standards for their kids

        • kite@lemmy.world
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          By “natural break”, ate you talking about the times between classes? If so, I do not know of a single school around the area that I grew up in that gave their students more than 3 minutes to get to the next class. That wasn’t even enough time for us to go to our lockers to get the next classes books; we all had to carry enormous bags that would fit all of our morning, and then afternoon classes books. There was absolutely no time to use the bathroom during that time. Even lunch time wasn’t enough, because they didn’t give us enough time to eat, forget about doing anything else. If you chose to use the bathroom at lunch, you were choosing not to eat that day.

        • MagicalPanda@lemmy.world
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          We definitely went to two different school systems. I went to a school where one of the teachers told my brother he couldn’t use the restroom so he had to use a bucket, in his emergency. He got detention for it. My mom with 10 kinds of pissed off.

      • teamevil@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        This reminds me of the Chain gang in the Paul Newman movie Cool Hand Luke. They are working on roads in hot Florida weather and have to ask the boss for water or to take their shirt off or basically to do any autonomous function.

  • ThrowawayPermanente@sh.itjust.works
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    1 year ago

    I get where they’re coming from with this, but if I’m out doing physical labor in the hot sun I need water like ever 20 minutes. Four hours is an eternity.

  • DeltaSix@feddit.de
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    1 year ago

    So how fucked up we want to make everything for the backbone-industry everyone is needing:

    US: Yes

    Seriously, I can’t even understand how people allow this to happen in your own country. It would be political suicide to try this in any place of Germany.

    • Crismus@lemmy.fmhy.ml
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      1 year ago

      Individual votes don’t count nearly as much as corporate cash.

      This is the epitome of late stage capitalism in the US.

      • buttsbuttsbutts@lemmynsfw.com
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        1 year ago

        Your first sentence is absolutely accurate, but I think this specific case is more about sticking it to the libs in the cities that passed these laws, with the side benefit that most of these workers are minorities that the state reps don’t like.

  • Swedneck@discuss.tchncs.de
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    1 year ago

    So like what does it take for people to revolt? are they just going to stand idly by while their fellows actually die, waiting for their own turn to stroke out from overworking and dehydration?

    • yata@sh.itjust.works
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      1 year ago

      As long as it owns the libs, a lot of Americans, and in particular Texans, will very happily do that.

      • AnarchistArtificer@slrpnk.net
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        1 year ago

        It feels pretty shitty to be a disabled person scrolling by and seeing comments like this. I don’t think that Abbott being a shitty person makes your statement any less hurtful to non-shitty disabled people

  • Hazdaz@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    What is the LeopardAteMyFace equivalent for Lemmy? Because this belongs there.

    Guaranteed that the same people complaining about this water break issue now are also people who in the last election either couldn’t be bothered to go vote, or voted for that clown Abbott. You vote for fascists, you get fascist policies.

      • AnarchistArtificer@slrpnk.net
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        1 year ago

        I don’t know if the person you’re replying to was mistaken, or whether votes are different from sponsors, but I’m seeing two Democrats here.

        But that’s a minor clarification that doesn’t reduce the point at all - that’s a heck of a lot of Republicans