Russia launches hundreds of drones at Ukraine ahead of Trump-Zelenskyy call – Europe live | Europe

In Spain, more than 35,000 people have signed onto a petition calling on the government to decree a maximum temperature at which people can work outdoors.

The petition was launched by Elvira Gómez, a street sweeper in Catalonia.

“Thousands of us work in the open air, without shade, in physically demanding jobs, in heavy, thick suits and sometime in temperatures of up to 40 degrees without access to water or rest areas,” the petition notes.

It comes after the death of Montse Aguilar, a street sweeper in Barcelona. On Saturday, as Spain wrestled with its first heatwave of the summer, Aguilar told a friend that she was feeling ill after hours of working outdoors in temperatures that had climbed past 35 degrees Celsius. She walked home after her shift and collapsed soon after – paramedics were unable to revive her.

Gómez said she and other street sweepers worried constantly that something similar could happen to them. “If we are lucky, we get a five-minute break per hour or a bottle of water for the whole shift,” she noted.

While Spanish law stipulates that companies must take measures to protect their employees when there are official heat alerts, Gómez said it wasn’t enough. “This does not protect those of us who work in the sun when there is no alert but it’s 33 to 35 degrees,” she said.

Spanish law had already set out limits for office workers, stipulating that indoor spaces must be kept at 27 degrees or cooler. “But if you work in the street, there’s no limit.”

She called on Spain – where heatwaves are becoming more frequent – to take action.

“We don’t want to mourn the deaths of more of our colleagues due to heat exhaustion,” the petition notes.