EU trade unions say outdoor work should cease if temperatures exceed 32,5C

Trade unions are calling on the European Union to update laws so that employees are better protected when working in very hot weather. Which concrete changes are they proposing?

EU must do more to protect workers’ health in heat

European trade unions have drafted an EU directive which would update labour laws to better protect employees’ health when working in extreme heat, according to the Guardian. 

The group of unions says that the draft directive should be included in the EU’s upcoming Quality Jobs Act, which will be proposed in parliament at the end of 2026.

The draft directive, seen by the Guardian, suggests that employers in the EU would have to ensure that employees have good access to shade, water and other methods of cooling down when working outdoors. Unions also want to introduce regulated “heat breaks” and suggest that working hours be adjusted to avoid working during the day's hottest hours.

Furthermore, unions want an enforceable upper temperature limit, after which employees can work more slowly or stop work. This limit would be based on the wet-bulb globe temperature (WBGT), a measure of how heat stress in direct sunlight affects humans and animals.

The draft suggests that the intensity of work should slow down if temperatures reach between 30 and 32,5 degrees celsius. At 30 degrees, the intensity of work would slow and would continue to slow if temperatures rose further. If temperatures reached over 32,5 degrees, employees would be allowed to cease working.

Climate change is here and puts workers at risk daily

Speaking to the Guardian, general secretary of the European Federation of Food, Agriculture and Tourism Trade Unions (Effat), Enrico Somaglia, said that climate change was here and posed a daily risk to workers’ health.

“Climate change is no longer a distant environmental challenge; it is a daily occupational health and safety risk, as well as a threat to job stability. The current European legal framework is clearly not sufficient to defend against it,” explained Somaglia.

On July 9, the EU’s Copernicus climate monitoring service announced that June 2026 was the hottest June in western Europe since records began. 

In the most recent heatwave, Germany’s all-time heat record was broken when 41,8 degrees was recorded in Möckern-Drewitz in Saxony-Anhalt. Forecasters predict another heatwave will hit the federal republic in the coming weeks.