Union members and climate activists set up a ‘cool station’ outside Highbury and Islington station to hand out heatwave safety advice to workers [Pic: Immo Klink]
PRIME Minister Andy Burnham rejected calls to set a maximum workplace temperature by a coalition of unions and climate activists today, as the Met Office predicted this summer will become Britain’s warmest on record.
The Heat Strike campaign called on Labour to set a national maximum indoor working temperature of 30°C, dropping to 27°C for those doing strenuous work.
Coalition campaigner Liam Geary Baulch said: “Everyone is feeling the effects of the climate. The government must protect workers when it’s too hot to work and safeguard everyone’s future.
“The petitions show people are scared. These heatwaves are causing a national health and safety emergency. That’s why we are urging the PM to put the brakes on now, to stop accidents and save lives.
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HEAT strikes, like those due to begin this Friday by London bus drivers organised in the Unite union, will become more common as long as governments shut their eyes to the scale of climate adaptation needed.
This punishing summer, now entering its fifth heatwave, is extreme but not unexpected.
All 10 of the hottest years on record in Britain have been since 2002. The reality of a warming climate has been recognised for decades. The TUC has been urging a legal maximum workplace temperature since 2008.
Britain is bound by international treaties to seek to reduce the emissions that cause global warming, though serious action to do so has fallen well short of what’s required and open climate denialism is now fashionable again, thanks to an aggressive new right taking inspiration from the anti-science Donald Trump regime in the United States.
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Increased frequency of extreme weather, the see-saw between longer droughts and fiercer floods that are ruining harvests, has not interrupted British governments in their long push to debilitate the public sector, imposing deep cuts on the fire brigade as on every service that cannot be turned into a cash cow for private providers.
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An Arriva bus in north London (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)
Arriva North London bus drivers will be on strike on 26 dates from August to October
An amber heat health alert came into force across most of England as Socialist Worker went to press on Tuesday.
The impact of the soaring temperatures on workers’ health and safety has been staggering, with many employers failing to make adjustments for the heat or provide air conditioning in workplaces.
But bus drivers in north London are refusing to roast for corporate greed.
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A bus driver and Unite rep at Arriva North told Socialist Worker that workers were effectively “working in a mobile greenhouse”.
He explained that the air cooling systems installed on buses only managed to reduce temperatures by around two or three degrees because they take air from outside and circulate it.
“Driver cab temperatures can be more than 40 degrees, sometimes up to fifty degrees. The systems are just blowing hot air.”
Zack Polanski has said he wants the Green party to replace Labour and is already building links with trade unions. Photograph: Gareth Fuller/PA
Leader understood to have spoken to 10 trade unions after party claimed working class voters are turning to them
Zack Polanski has kicked off a charm offensive designed to convince trade unions to stop funding Labour and throw their weight behind the Green party, as he delivered the first in a series of speeches to union conferences.
The Green leader has had “good conversations” with 10 trade unions, including some affiliated to Labour, according to party sources, and is due to address the University and College Union and the Bakers, Food and Allied Workers Union, not affiliated with Labour, in the coming months.
The UK’s largest unions – Unite and Unison – were among those that denied negotiating with Polanski and said they remained affiliated to the Labour party. However, Unite is holding internal discussions about its future relationship with Labour before a special conference in 2027 at which it could potentially decide to disaffiliate.
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The Greens have enjoyed a huge boost in polling since their first national byelection victory in Gorton and Denton, and the party’s membership has tripled in England and Wales since last September to about 200,000.
A Green party source said: “When Zack became Green party leader he said his goal was to replace Labour – and building strong links with trade unions is a central part of that plan.
“Working class people are increasingly looking to the Greens as the only party which will tackle the cost of living crisis and stand up for their rights. Zack’s first priority is to push unions to stop funding the Labour party – a party which in opposition made huge promises to workers and is now watering down and U-turning on those promises.”
A sticker supporting the strikes on a bin as agency refuse workers collect rubbish in the Saltley area of Birmingham, January 6, 2026
UNITE is to cut its Labour affiliation by £580,000 amid anger over the long-running Birmingham bin strike, the union announced today.
Members of Unite began a continuous walkout on March 11 last year over cuts to their pay, with little sign of a breakthrough.
A year on, the union said the council “dither[s] around a deal” as streets fill with rubbish and residents and workers suffer.
Unite said it decided to substantially cut its affiliation by 40 per cent ahead of its rules conference next year, and will now formally consult with its members on whether they want to remain Labour-affiliated.
It said it made clear that the actions of Labour against the workers “will not continue to be tolerated.”
Keir Starmer says that the Labour Party under his leadership is intensely relaxed about assaulting those least able to defend themselves – the very poorest and most vulnerable.
Union members and climate activists set up a ‘cool station’ outside Highbury and Islington station to hand out heatwave safety advice to workers [Pic: Immo Klink]
