Extreme heat roils Europe: Workers warn of strike in Italy and stoppages in Greece

Temperatures soared to almost 47 degrees Celcius in southern Italy on Wednesday (July 19) as factory workers threatened to go on strike over the extreme heat. Heat records were broken in coastal waters around Spain even as wildfires continued to rage in Greece.

In Italy's Sicily, where a record temperature of 48.8C was registered in August 2021, the mercury soared to 47C in the area between Sciacca, in Agrigento province, and Mazara del Vallo, in the province of Trapani, as per the data from ilMeteo.it.

Temperatures in Sardinia soared to 46C while in Rome, where people faced energy blackouts on Tuesday because of the pressure on the grid due to the air conditioners, it peaked at 38C.

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“This is apocalyptic,” stated Claudia Bivona, who works as a teacher in Trapani, while speaking to The Guardian. “Something we had never experienced before. And it will get worse and worse. I’m thinking of the elderly and also of animals. What is happening is not normal," she added.

Nuccia Orlando, who has been working at a hospital as a nurse in the Sicilian province of Caltanissetta, stated, “We are melting. This heat is absurd. My car’s thermometer registered 52C inside the vehicle today. Of course, I had left it in the sun. But still, we are talking about 52C.”

Information line to be activated for deaths occurring due to heat

Italy’s Health Minister Orazio Schillaci stated that they will activate information line concerns about deaths that are occurring from heat-related illnesses. A man, who was in his 60s, lost his life in a heat-related illness after he fainted in his bakery near the northern city of Padua, and last week, a 44-year-old road worker died in Milan.

“You can protect yourself against the heat in a major way by drinking lots of water, opting for a diet based on vegetables and fresh fruit and avoiding excessive consumption of fatty foods and alcohol,” said Schillaci. “Special attention should be paid to the most fragile, elderly and children," he added.

Stellantis, the carmaker, stated that the situation in the Pomigliano d’Arco plant near Naples was monitored by them after workers were freed early on Tuesday because of too much heat. Workers employed by battery maker Magneti Marelli said that they will hold an eight-hour strike at a plant in Sulmona, in the central Abruzzo region. The unions issued a statement saying that the “asphyxiating heat is putting the lives of workers at risk”.

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The CGIL union stated that temperatures were nearing 40C in factories in the southern region of Basilicata. “The arrival of the heat is a serious problem for workers because it puts their health and safety at risk. After the Stellantis case we are getting many signals from several factories across the region. For this reason we ask workers to turn to their unions if health and safety guarantees are not being met," it said.

Concern has been expressed by the unions for agricultural workers, many of whom are seasonal workers who work outside the EU, as well as construction workers.

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