A commentary by two university professors and an advocate for migrant workers.

As the weather gets hotter, debates around the issues ­facing British Columbians are also heating up: Canadian food ­security amidst crushing American tariffs, the protracted housing crisis and the future of migration.

Left out of these debates are the more than 10,000 migrant farm workers who travel to B.C. year after year to provide vital labour to the agricultural sector.

For these workers, hotter summers, restrictive migration policies and housing are not separate issues.

Migrant workers in B.C.’s agricultural industry endure conditions in the fields and in their housing that are overheated and under-regulated, falling through the cracks of the limited existing guidelines.

Now is the time to take action.

In B.C., workers have the right to refuse work when their workplaces are too hot.

Highlighting the insufficient nature of existing guidelines, the B.C. Workers Solidarity Network is running a “Too Hot to Work” campaign to demand mandated temperature limits in workplaces and 24-hour cooling........

© BIV