The Building and Wood Workers’ International (BWI) stands with workers and climate activists in their push for action

In Switzerland, more than 40,000 people joined the "Pas d'étés à 50°C!" ("No 50-degree summers!") mobilisation against extreme heat that BWI backed alongside its Swiss affiliate UNIA. With more demonstrations planned in the weeks ahead, this is just the beginning.

"This mobilisation in Switzerland shows that the climate crisis is an urgent issue for every person in every country," said Ambet Yuson, BWI General Secretary. "Workers - especially in our industries - will be the first to suffer without enforceable protections against extreme heat.”

“UNIA's survey this summer showed exactly that: eight in ten Swiss construction sites are not following the rules designed to protect workers from extreme heat."

The protests are now some of the largest climate demonstrations in Switzerland in recent years.

Part of a bigger fight: Workers on the frontlines of the heat 

BWI’s “Adapting to the Heat” report outlines legislative measures, provisions in collective bargaining agreements, compensation schemes and workplace initiatives that protect workers all over the world from extreme heat.

The link between the climate crisis and workers' rights is central to this mobilisation. What’s happening in Switzerland is part of a global pattern of hotter, longer and more frequent heatwaves and workers everywhere are feeling the heat. 

BWI is also backing a cross-border initiative with the PECO-Institut, bringing together construction and forestry workers from Germany's IG BAU, Austria's Gewerkschaft Bau-Holz (GBH) and UNIA to shape a just ecological transformation of the sector.

The mobilisation is just beginning

Organisers have made clear that these first protests mark only the opening stage of a sustained national campaign to put the climate emergency at the top of the political agenda. 

BWI stands with UNIA and its members as the campaign builds, and calls on affiliates, allies and the wider trade union movement to keep up the pressure in the fight for climate justice.

Learn more and get involved:

• The "Pas d'étés à 50°C!" alliance and appeal: 50degres.ch
• Read our original coverage: Too Hot to Work: BWI backs UNIA's call to mobilise against rising heat