Cristóbal Molina has been visiting Lanzarote on the occasion of the celebration of the island's 10th Labor Conference. He is a professor of Labor Law and Social Security at the University of Jaén and tackles the problems that workers face on a daily basis. For example, the extreme heat waves that have hit Lanzarote in recent months and have left images of construction workers working in full sun.
"The labor risk regulations were changed precisely to facilitate an adaptation of the position or a change of schedule," Molina begins. The last heat wave that hit the island during the first half of October led the Government of the Canary Islands to suspend classes for two days to prevent students from staying in schools, not all of which are equipped, with high temperatures. "It is curious that it is done in schools, that they are closed, and not in the business environment," reflects this professor of Labor Law.
For Cristóbal Molina, legislating to tackle this problem will be "a great challenge." The new climatic reality poses the great puzzle that public institutions and citizens will have to face to guarantee the rights and health of workers. "Just as there is talk of an adaptation of working time for the reconciliation of work and family life with the issue of teleworking, this is going to be a vital issue: reorganizing working time based on the climate," he continues.
Despite the law that protects workers from being exposed to outdoor work during heat waves, images of workers toiling in hours of extreme heat have not ceased this summer. "Companies always struggle, but this is an important open challenge as well. Not only is life and the integrity of people at stake, but also the right to health. Just last year, health was recognized as a fundamental right. This will have to be introduced in all collective agreements," continues the labor expert.
"In the Canary Islands, it has always been said that the weather is good, but now there is a lot of temperature and that is going to become structural, so those measures that are difficult to adopt will have to be implemented," continues Cristóbal Molina.
"The Canary Islands, like Andalusia, should have measures due to their uniqueness," he reflects.
Collective measures to save workers' health
The professor from the University of Jaén exemplifies that the grape harvest is being carried out in many places during the night. "What happens is that it is done at night so as not to harm the grapes, of course, but you have to think about doing things so as not to harm people's health. Unfortunately, we are going a little slower there," he reflects.
"There are corrective measures that are a priority. You first have to prepare the schools to adapt to the client, therefore, the first solution cannot be to send the children home or send the workers home," says Cristóbal Molina. However, in cases where the worker has to perform his work outdoors and collective protection measures cannot be adopted, other solutions must be sought.
That is why he argues that "you have to adapt the working time first." For example, if it is unsustainable to work in the mornings, it will be done in the afternoons or even at night when possible. In the event that it is not, Cristóbal Molina proposes "establishing suspension of the employment contract with access to benefits" in those extreme cases where the climate does not allow workers to go to their jobs. "We must normalize these measures due to the climate while we are not able to correct a major problem," he adds.
"There is a lot of talk about psychosocial stress or depression, but thermal stress is also common in this type of profession," he says.
An economic model at risk due to climate change
The islands of the world will be among the main victims of the effects of climate change. The vulnerability of the Canary Archipelago has been recognized in scientific studies that reveal the environmental consequences that the eight islands and the insular islets will suffer. This also implies that the main economic engine of the Islands, tourism, is going to be in danger. This expert predicts that "we will have to start thinking about another type of tourism, other types of jobs, other sectors and activities," Cristóbal Molina begins.
"We will have to modify the economic model, we should adopt measures and policies for a more quality and sustainable tourism," advises the professor of Labor Law.
This professor reflects that the experience that already exists in Spain on the digital transformation and the training of workers in other areas can also be extrapolated to a transformation of the current economic model. "Employment Regulation Files can be used to train workers or grant unemployment benefits," he begins. At the same time, he argues that "unemployment benefits are poorly regulated in our country, there is a lot of undercoverage." The reform planned by the previous national Executive was intended to tackle unemployment aid for the change of the productive model or digitization, but it lapsed with the early elections.
In addition to his work as a professor at the university, Cristóbal Molina has participated in the European Economic and Social Council as an advisor to some of its opinions. "One of them is precisely how climate change will impact employment and one of the proposals that is made is a revision of the social benefits policy to make them more in line with these circumstances that we have right now."
"In Andalusia, it has already been requested that the unique fact that the autonomous community has in the face of climate change be recognized. We need investments so that the model itself is sustainable, we need very significantly that there are resources for water, for example.
"Political parties, regardless of their political ideologies, can do operational things for people."
