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Texas rules requiring water breaks for construction workers will be nullified

texastribune.org

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Re: Texas rules requiring water breaks for construction workers will be nullified

#31

Post by dbg31415 »

lockhouse wrote: post #24
dbg31415 wrote: post #20

[flagged]

His competition last election was Beto O’Rourke, a guy who made gun control the biggest issue of his campaign…in Texas.

Yeah... Beto does tend to give the impression that he just likes to lose.

Beto was Mayor of El Paso, where there was that horrible shooting a few years back. Beto really latched on to gun control.

And I agree, like we need the most purple Democrat in Texas, or they won't stand a chance.

It's hard to get the left motivated by a candidate that has any shot of winning. And the right just has to sort of default into a win... it's a tough spot.

I really do appreciate that Beto keeps standing up to be a punching bag. But I do wish there was a way to make him a bit more moderate.

Guns, abortion, immigration... they're all just issues that make Republicans show up to vote against a Democrat. Since there are more Republicans than Democrats, it'd be be better to not talk so much about those things I think... But meh, what do I know? It's not like the Democrats would let in a candidate who was silent or moderate on those issues... and if they won't make any concessions, it's pretty hard for Republicans to cross party lines for someone based on personality alone.

Beto lost by 11%... that's not terrible terrible... but even if it was a 1% point loss he still wouldn't get a say in running the state. I don't know what the answer is, but I suspect if we wait 20 years things will be better. Do we have 20 years to wait?

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/11/08/us/elections/...

Re: Texas rules requiring water breaks for construction workers will be nullified

#32

Post by vb6sp6 »

thebradbain wrote: post #25

As a lifelong Texan who now lives in California— Texas has absolutely no problem overriding municipal and county governments, the biggest of which are solidly blue. It’s a pattern they’ve repeated for over 20 years, often more so as a show of force than anything that affects things at a state level: - Local “bag charges” and “bag bans” on non-reusable plastic bags at grocery stores were outlawed in 2018. - Anything t…

[dead]

Re: Texas rules requiring water breaks for construction workers will be nullified

#33

Post by ckemere »

Buttons840 wrote: post #18
darth_avocado wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At this point the argument “the market will solve the problem by its own” is tiring. The whole argument that if a company doesn’t offer X, then people won’t work for it and go to other companies only works when there are others that offer it and don’t cut on Y and Z because they offer X. There are countless labor issues that historically “weren’t solved by the market” because they were the right thing to do until a l…

I've been asking: When the things that happen in a healthy free market aren't happening, what does that mean? (Maybe too abstract because I haven't got an answer from those I ask.)

Maybe another symptom of a broken immigration system? People with tenuous immigration status are easily exploited?

More generally, I think the specific question is: if a worker is choosing between two companies, one which offers water breaks and one which doesn't, wouldn't they choose the first? This makes sense in a case of labor demand >> labor supply.

An alternative question is: if companies face a cost for worker injury, why wouldn't they take better care of workers. But there's huge amounts of evidence (including my wife's as a resident at Ben Taub) that injured workers are discarded into the public health system (with no insurance). And by "discarded" I also mean "lose their job" as well.

Finally, the cities largely bear these costs with only local property and sales taxes to support them, but have found ways to get around barriers erected by undemocratic rural and suburban legislators, and no doubt will continue to.

Re: Texas rules requiring water breaks for construction workers will be nullified

#34

Post by technofiend »

dbg31415 wrote: post #20

[flagged]

A rapper named Big Pokey died today [1] after two outdoor concert performances: one in Baytown and the second in Beaumont. I'd cite the source but the original Twitter post of him collapsing on stage was taken down. He was a pretty big guy, so I doubt that helped. But in contrast even fit and healthy people being forced to work construction with no break is inhuman. There's no excuse for such brutality.

[1] https://old.reddit.com/r/houston/comments/14ciker/rip_big_po...

Re: Texas rules requiring water breaks for construction workers will be nullified

#35

Post by getmeinrn »

denimnerd42 wrote: post #29

Is this specific regulation really an issue? I understand heat related deaths do occur but is it because they are not allowed water breaks every 4!! hours? If you're working out there in 115+ heat index like June, July, August, September bring you're going to need a water break every 20-40 minutes, especially decked out in full PPE. I don't see overseers out there driving these Hispanic laborers to work 8 hours strai…

I agree the common sense around this issue seems to be lacking. I think this issue is more of a political lightning rod for those who "hate workers" vs those who "want government to control everything."

Re: Texas rules requiring water breaks for construction workers will be nullified

#36

Post by ckemere »

jjtheblunt wrote: post #12
yostrovs wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here where I live we don't have mandated by government bathroom breaks, yet my employer lets me go whenever I want.

I was just thinking that, that perhaps this looks click-bait-ish as a news item because of course workers are allowed to drink water. Is it maybe the point that not every commonsense-ism needs legislation backing it, IF it is truly respected and honored universally as common sense. Or is this a news item because there are tyrants who forbid workers from drinking water and taking bathroom breaks? If so, that's bizarre…

Please observe a construction site in Houston (I just drove by some roofers a few minutes ago). There are breaks, but they are much rarer than a "normal" person might expect.

Re: Texas rules requiring water breaks for construction workers will be nullified

#37

Post by genocidicbunny »

bequanna wrote: post #16
jmclnx wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

More than that, the Real Market (Earth) may solve this issue for good, when Texas regularly hits Wet Bulb Temp due to Climate Change, people will start heading north. So no more Texas. This is crazy, I am sure the Lawyers are now looking closely to Case Law to e ready when the suite start flying.

This is pretty strong conjecture that is the exact opposite of what is currently happening. If Texas is such a terrible place to live, why are so many people moving there?

When wet bulb temperatures get high enough (over human body temperature basically) it becomes deadly to be there. It won't be a matter of politics or housing prices or any of those other issues when people move away because you risk dropping dead just being outside for 15 minutes.

Re: Texas rules requiring water breaks for construction workers will be nullified

#38

Post by bombcar »

Buttons840 wrote: post #5
nonstopdev wrote: post #4

This would be interesting to see how it plays out and if the market solves this on its own. While a regulation and mandates usually requires an employer to keep extra records, cause confusion for a lot of smaller companies trying to comply based on each different governments rules, as well as generate more government costs to enforce, the Texas heat is nothing to mess with just as in many states in the south. I would…

> ones that basically tell their staff they can’t drink water I would have to believe quickly will find no one will want to work for I've never done something as difficult as construction, but I was a cashier, sanding still on concrete all day for 8 hours, no fun. I don't think anyone wanted to do that, but there they were doing it anyway. And there they still are every time I go to the store, no stool to sit on, sta…

There are very very few jobs that people actually want to do - and some places do provide stools. Aldi’s does and they’re notoriously famous for overworking their cashiers as much as they can.

I’d expect to see stools at union grocery stories (but I don’t) so it must not be that big of a complaint.

I have seen that almost all now have those padded floor things.

Re: Texas rules requiring water breaks for construction workers will be nullified

#39

Post by AngryData »

Buttons840 wrote: post #18
darth_avocado wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At this point the argument “the market will solve the problem by its own” is tiring. The whole argument that if a company doesn’t offer X, then people won’t work for it and go to other companies only works when there are others that offer it and don’t cut on Y and Z because they offer X. There are countless labor issues that historically “weren’t solved by the market” because they were the right thing to do until a l…

I've been asking: When the things that happen in a healthy free market aren't happening, what does that mean? (Maybe too abstract because I haven't got an answer from those I ask.)

Depending on this scenario, it could mean the free market doesn't actually have anything at all to do with certain policies or actions. If something goes right people are right on top of claiming it is a win for free markets, but how often is it really the free market at work and not other factors and incentives, be it political, cultural, historical, situational, emotional, or just a local quirk?
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