California governor Arnold Schwarzenneger on Tuesday issued emergency orders to protect farmworkers from heatstroke. The rules, to take effect in two weeks, will give farmworkers the right to time in the shade if they report symptoms of heatstroke.
Three things about this are striking. First, that Schwarzenneger appeared with farmworkers, including the family of heatstroke victim, and said these simple protections are overdue. Second, that these orders parallel a Democratic effort in the Legislature that was opposed by every single Republican. But most striking of all is what the Governor said about heatstroke:
"I’ve gone through all this when I was in Mexico doing a movie, ‘Predator." I had no idea. I experienced headaches. I was throwing up, diarrhea, cramps, all of those things. I thought I had maybe caught a bug. The reality was I had to stay in bed for six days … all because I did not know the symptoms."
Let’s give Schwarzenneger some credit for doing what he can to save farmworkers from dying of the heat.
Kit Stolz 