Heat and work: the government opens talks with the unions

A delegation from the State Council has met the trade unions to discuss working conditions during heatwaves. Representatives of UNIA, OCST, USS and VPOD took part in the talks.

The government was represented by President Marina Carobbio Guscetti and by State Councillors Christian Vitta and Raffaele De Rosa.

The parties agreed to examine further the questions surrounding work in extreme heat, strengthening regular dialogue among all those concerned. They also acknowledged that the matter falls mainly under federal competence.

The three announced strands

The State Council set out how it intends to proceed. It plans regular meetings with the social partners through the Operational Group for Health and the Environment. It will then take the subject to Ticino's delegation in the federal chambers, where the applicable legislation is decided. Finally it will strengthen information and communication towards everyone concerned, municipalities included.

The reference to federal competences marks out the cantonal room for manoeuvre. Rules on health protection in the workplace are set at national level. The canton can therefore organise the discussion and provide information, but it cannot on its own establish binding rules on work stoppages or hours.

That explains why the first outcome of the meeting is a working method rather than a measure. No announcements emerged on temperature thresholds, obligations to halt building sites, or forms of compensation.

It was not stated when the Operational Group for Health and the Environment will meet, nor which proposals the canton intends to support in Bern. Neither was it specified which occupational sectors will be involved first.

The subject returns every summer and concerns in particular those who work outdoors or in premises without air conditioning. In those situations exposure to heat depends little on the choices of the individual worker and a great deal on how the work is organised.

The dialogue now under way therefore concerns a question addressed until now mainly through recommendations and sector agreements, and which the government intends to follow with periodic meetings.