KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A collapsing Assistant Referee at the Copa America game between Canada and Peru at Children’s Mercy Park exemplified the challenges that all heat-exposed workers are dealing with this week in the Kansas City metro.
“Whether it’s hot, cold, snowing, raining, any conditions, we have to be in because this is how we make our living,” said Heavy Construction Laborers’ Local 663 President and Business Manager Jason Mendenhall.
Canada beats Peru at Copa América on David goal in Kansas City
His fellow union members are helping pour concrete and extend the KC Streetcar for 3.5 miles from Union Station to UMKC while it feels like it’s hotter than 100 degrees for much of the week.
That’s why Mendenhall and his workers take hot-weather best practices seriously, drinking plenty of water, taking breaks and using sunblockers and other items that workers get for free to keep themselves safe.
“Our bodies are our tools, and this is a very physical job and there is a real physical performance component to being a Union Laborer,” said Mendenhall.