As Europe swelters through another intense summer, trade unions are intensifying their campaign for new legal protections against deadly heat stress, which is already linked to an estimated 230 workplace deaths annually across the continent. The toll for this year could be even higher: the World Health Organization has connected 1,300 excess deaths to the June heatwave, with some estimates running as high as 20,000.
Unions Demand Enforceable Thermal Limits
Unions are calling for enforceable workplace thermal limits based on the wet bulb globe temperature (WBGT), a measure that assesses the human body's ability to cool itself through sweating. They also want mandatory heat risk assessments on job sites. A draft directive text seen by the Guardian outlines demands for rights to heat breaks, outdoor shade, water, cooling, and adjusted working hours, to be included in a forthcoming quality jobs law.
Enrico Somaglia, general secretary of the European Federation of Food, Agriculture and Tourism Trade Unions (Effat), said: “Climate change is no longer a distant environmental challenge, it is a daily occupational health and safety risk, as well as a threat to job stability. The current European legal framework is clearly not sufficient to defend against it.”
Proposed WBGT Thresholds and Sanctions
The draft text proposes maximum workplace WBGTs ranging from 30°C for very high-intensity work to 32.5°C for low-intensity work. Beyond these temperatures, work would be suspended. Employers who violate the rules would face “effective, proportionate and dissuasive” sanctions. While not a legal document, the proposal is gaining traction among sympathetic MEPs and officials as the extreme summer of 2026 pushes the issue up the political agenda.
Effat is one of three union groups—alongside the European Federation of Public Service Unions and the European Federation of Building and Woodworkers—representing 15 million workers that are backing the proposed heat safety law. This reflects a broader groundswell of union support across Europe.
UK Unions and Activism
In the UK, where an amber heat alert was issued for the south-west of England on Wednesday, the Trades Union Congress (TUC) is urging ministers to introduce a maximum working temperature. This demand was recently backed by the government's advisers on the Climate Change Committee. The TUC wants rules requiring employers to reduce workplace temperatures if they exceed 24°C, and the right for workers to stop work if temperatures reach 30°C (or 27°C for strenuous jobs).
Paul Nowak, TUC general secretary, said: “Indoor workplaces should be kept at comfortable temperatures, with relaxed dress codes and flexible working to make use of the coolest hours of the day. And employers must make sure outdoor workers are protected with regular breaks, lots of fluids, plenty of sunscreen and the right protective clothing.”
The Heat Strike movement, formed after the UK's hottest day in 2022, has stepped up activism, calling a national action that 1,500 people participated in during the June heatwave. Activists, supported by groups including the Bakers, Food and Allied Workers Union, the Fire Brigades Union, Greenpeace, War on Want, and Extinction Rebellion, set up cool stations in town centres from Exeter to York to hand out water and health advice. Some supporters held symbolic lunchtime walkouts in solidarity with those working in extreme heat.
Scale of the Problem
Global heating is rapidly intensifying, with Europe warming twice as fast as the global average. According to research by the European Trade Union Institute, up to 130 million workers are now exposed to workplace heat stress, resulting in 277,000 injuries each year. Maria Ohisalo, a Finnish Green MEP and rapporteur for a parliamentary report on extreme temperatures at work, is supporting the union push. She said: “Right now there is no European-wide regulation on protection against workplace heat (or cold) exposure, just a patchwork of mere recommendations. But workers everywhere need the protection that only legally binding and harmonised rules can offer.”
Political Hurdles Ahead
While new heat stress rules could be included in the Quality Jobs Act that the European Commission has pledged to bring forward this year, the proposal faces opposition from several labour ministers in rightwing EU states who favour weaker recommendations. The European Commission did not respond to a request for comment on the matter.
