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Heat wave: Vaud: building workers want to work at dawn
The FVE asks the municipalities to soften the schedules to protect the building workers. The Vaudish union of the communes is said to be open to the discussion.
The current heat wave weighs on the physical, in particular that of the workers on the sites.
FreepikThe heat wave also strikes the sites. To avoid hot strokes, companies move certain tasks, multiply water points, offer “air -conditioned” clothes and, if possible, work early in the morning. Except that, for some municipalities, it is impossible to consider starting the site at 5 a.m. or 6 a.m., because this is, in particular, too much noise. And that, despite the heat wave during the day.
Tolerance requested from residents and contracting authorities
“With an exceptional situation, exceptional measure”, pleads the Vaudoise federation of entrepreneurs (FVE), which calls for local authorities to more flexibility, residents to tolerate a little morning noise and the contracting authorities to avoid late penalties.
In the event of more than 33 degrees, the unemployment law and a joint fund make it possible to compensate the hours lost, sometimes up to 100% of the salary. But for the FVE, nothing replaces the possibility of working before heat.
The municipalities ready to study the subject
Contacted, the Vaudoise Union of Communes (UVC) ensures sharing the concerns for the health of workers and is delighted that “all measures” can be taken in this sense.
If each municipality remains responsible for public order and must balance the interests at stake (advancement of construction sites, protection of the population against noise, safety, labor law), the UVC does not see an increase in inflexibility. She explains that the blocking feeling could be explained by the novelty of these requests.
For its director, Eloi Fellay, it would be “important to reflect on the capacity left to municipalities to derogate from the ordinary legal framework, even predict that in a heat wave they can do it automatically”, because these episodes may multiply over time.
A call to the political class
For Simon Constantin, member of the Directorate of the Construction Sector of Unia, the priority is clear: “The health of the workers must go before the deadlines.” The union claims specific rules: “From what temperature is a site to stop and which is responsible for it?” The union pleads for a stop of the work exposed to the sun from 33 degrees. As for the proposal to advance the start of one hour’s sites? “This can be part of the solution, if the central points are set: clear temperature limits and the postponement of deadlines in the event of stopping work,” said the trade unionist. Unia deplores the failure of the adaptation of weather insurance within the federal chambers and requires “a clear response” of the political class against heat waves.