June 22, 2026 editorial of the New Anticapitalist Party-Revolutionaries (NPA-R) in France, translated from French.
Summer has barely begun, and France is already experiencing its second heat wave. With climate change, this kind of phenomenon will become increasingly common. But the government and employers are, once again, completely unprepared and in denial—leaving us to fend for ourselves. Working people are the most at risk: we refuse to suffer the consequences of climate change brought about by capitalists and put our lives in danger for their profits!
A Double Climate and Social Burden
According to the latest report from NGO Oxfam, the impact of climate change on health is felt most acutely by the poorest populations. This comes as no surprise. It’s true on an international scale, since the poorest countries are the hardest hit, but also on a national scale, depending on which social class you belong to. This is true not only in terms of working conditions but also housing conditions.
Working-class neighborhoods are particularly vulnerable to heat waves, with buildings that are drafty in the winter turning into heat traps in the summer. Concrete and asphalt create hot spots, with nowhere to cool off except in supermarkets… And yet it is the young people who opened fire hydrants who are singled out and fined, while golf courses continue to be watered and the wealthiest live and move about constantly in spaces with air-conditioning and much more greenery.
France is a wealthy country, but its public services are in a deplorable state, particularly vulnerable to heat waves. In nursing homes and hospitals, since 60% of hospital buildings are considered decrepit. In elementary, middle, and high schools that have not undergone any energy-efficiency renovations. In public transportation, which has little or no air conditioning, where employees and passengers suffer from overheating, breakdowns, and canceled trips.
Yet, according to the Oxfam report, France’s adaptation efforts by 2050 would cost 20 billion euros—equivalent to just seventeen months’ worth of profits for TotalEnergies, one of the primary culprits behind global warming. A negligible sum for capitalism, but hands off the profits!
Climate Emergency and the Urgency of Revolution
Faced with this logic that is driving all of humanity straight into a wall, we can assert our priorities: our lives before their profits, especially at a time when the heat wave is endangering our health. The government is not taking any responsibility. This is especially clear in the national education system, with the minister passing the buck to local authorities to decide whether to close schools, even as classrooms turn into saunas. Because for the bosses, productivity must be maintained at all costs, and so parents must be able to go to work… as if nothing were wrong.
On May 29, a 19-year-old worker died after a day working in the intense heat on a construction site. While France holds the grim record for the highest number of workplace deaths in Europe—with more than 700 each year—there is a real possibility of more deaths following the crisis we are currently facing.
The only way to protect ourselves is to act collectively. Last year, in June, transportation workers organized strikes and exercised their right to walk off the job. This year, there are also reactions. For example, walkouts are taking place one after another at Rouen’s Quatre Mares SNCF industrial plant: workers refuse to toil in the shops where temperatures exceed 104 °F.
Whether to adjust work activities and schedules or not to work at all is a decision best left to the workers themselves. Profits are soaring, the heat is rising: let’s reverse these trends by relying on our protests!
