Story thread · 2 reports / 1 sources

Migrant workers in rural Korean greenhouses continue working in 39-degree heat as worksite guidelines go ignored

koreatimes.co.kr · 1dShare

The temperature inside the greenhouse was surpassing 38 degrees Celsius as a Nepali migrant worker, in his 30s and asked to be identified only as A, bent at the waist to pull weeds among the chives, Thursday. "It's hot," he said, his face and blue cotton T-shirt soaked in sweat. It was 2:10 p.m., the hottest part of the day. When asked whether he could take a break, A replied, “My employer says I need to keep working.” A severe heat wave was issued that day across Pocheon, Gyeonggi Province, where the farm was located. Yet no cooling measures, let alone a fan, could be seen inside the greenhouse. A, who came to Korea three years ago, said he works 10 hours a day starting at 6:30 a.m. "When it comes too unbearable, I go to a workstation next to the greenhouse for water," A said. Government-issued guidelines recommend suspending all nonessential outdoor work and giving workers a break every two hours when a severe heat wave warning is in effect. That day at the farm, however, the guideli

First report: Migrant worker found dead after going missing during heat wave — koreatimes.co.kr, 1d