News
Announcements, news and other shorter pieces about our research project.
Temperature Triggers: Spain and China
‘Stop work’ temperature triggers have emerged as a prominent trade union demand to alleviate the risks of higher temperatures on workers. In a new report prepared for the Climate, Society and Environment Research Centre (CSERC) UTS and the Too Hot To Work project,...
Symposium: Labour and Climate Change
On 12 July Too Hot for Work and C-SERC convened a symposium for political economists, geographers and aligned social scientists investigating the impacts of climate change on workers. Researchers are examining a broad range of often intersecting issues — labour...
All Hands on Deck: A cross-disciplinary symposium
In July Dr Elizabeth Humphrys spoke at the All Hands on Deck Symposium at UTS, organised by Jesse Adams-Stein and Chantel Carr. Recordings from a number of sessions are now available on the website and Soundcloud. Elizabeth's talk on the Law. Labour and Climate panel...
Hot under the collar: climate change on the job
The following post was first published on the Progress in Political Economy blog Exposure to high heat and humidity in the workplace is a critical health and safety issue, and in Australia, where heat waves are occurring with more frequency and intensity as a result...
‘Zonked the hell out’
This week the first journal article based on our research with the United Workers Union was published in Economic and Labour Relations Review. The United Workers Union is one of the largest blue-collar unions in Australia, with approximately 150,000 members across 45...
Hot, hard and dangerous
Elizabeth Humphrys was recently a guest on the On the Job podcast, hosted by Francis Leach and Sally Rugg, discussing our report for the United Workers Union. From the podcast show notes... As the COP26 climate change talks in Glasgow loom up, Australia is on a...
Study reveals increased heat risks for workers
On 23 September 2021 we launched the final report on our project investigating the impact of high heat and climate change on members or the United Workers Union (UWU). The launch was part of the Australian Council of Trade Unions' (ACTU) Climate Safety at Work Summit,...
VCOSS Feeling the Heat Report
This month the Victorian Council of Social Services released a new report highlighting how people experiencing disadvantage are particularly at risk with heat stress. Extreme heat kills more Australians than any other form of natural disaster, and for some it makes...
High heat presents additional challenge for care workers
Workers in aged care face a raft of challenges in the provision of quality care, including understaffing, time pressures, and high turnover of staff. As COVID-19 made clear, care workers also perform essential work that places them at the frontline of public health...
Heat stress during the COVID-19 pandemic
The outbreak of COVID-19 in Australia resulted in rapid, sweeping changes to daily life and work. Some of these changes were temporary while others, such as the use of face masks in certain settings and social distancing measures, remain partially in place. Workers in...