Workers rally for water breaks

Austin (KXAN) - Summer in Texas can be dangerous time if you have to work outside.   The heat can make you sick - it can even be deadly.  You've probably heard the warnings from doctors:  if you have to be outside, make sure to drink plenty of water.

But some workers in Austin don't always get the water they need.

The Workers Defense Project claims that around 30 percent of construction workers in Austin do not get water breaks on the job.   The group says a local worker died last year of heat stroke at a worksite that did not provide water breaks.

The group rallied outside Austin City Hall Thursday to call attention to the issue.  Several carried signs, with hand-written slogans like, "I Thirst for Justice."  They stood together on the south side of the building.   An organizer held a microphone, talking to the group about the plight of workers without water in the heat.

Then the rain came.

A light rain turned into a brief downpour, soaking some of the speakers.  Father Albert Ruiz of Dolores Catholic Church took the microphone to give a prayer, and called the rain a sign of support from above.

"It seems like God has already blessed us," Ruiz said, gesturing to the sky, "and said this is the right thing to do."

What the Workers Defense Project is doing is asking city council members to require builders to give workers water breaks.  The group staged a thirst strike outside City Hall - where some members went without water to call attention to their cause.

"It's just regular human dignity," said Carl Betancourt, a heating and air conditioning installer.  "Let a person have a 10-minute break in the morning, a 10-minute break in the afternoon, where they can get their water."

Kristof Irwin also joined the protest.   He was an anomaly in the group - Irwin owns a home building company.

Irwin said some builders share common goals with the Workers Defense Project effort.   "As a builder, I want to provide a quality product," Irwin explained.  "The product's only going to be as good as the information I bring to it, the materials I bring to it, and the performance of the people doing the work."

"If I train them well, but don't give them breaks, I've shot myself in the foot," Irwin said.

Betancourt also believes in the benefits of breaks.  "You have to be focused on your job," he said.  "You can't be distracted by things like getting thirsty, weak, and stuff."

"When you're fresh, you get a chance to cool down, you work better," Betancourt continued. "You're not going to make bad decisions that are going to cause something to go wrong later on."

But Irwin said he also understands the pressure to push workers to go without breaks.

"Being a builder in this economy is really a challenge, and I'm looking to cut costs anywhere I can," he explained.  "I guess what I do is I just say I'm not going to consider mistreating the people who work for me as an option for how to cut costs."

Irwin said the blame goes beyond just a few builders.

"We're all partly complicit," Irwin said, "in the sense that we don't want to know the true cost of how much it costs to build a home." 

"The true costs are huge," Irwin added.

The protest aimed to take some of the risk to workers out of that cost.   Some at the rally are optimistic that the city will back their cause.

"They've got a little better with requiring contractors to do other things, benefits and stuff," Betancourt said of the city council.  "Hopefully they can help with working conditions also."