A tale of two workers: Heat deaths on the job provoke differing responses in Oregon, Idaho

In a historic heatwave that covered the Pacific Northwest in June 2021, two workers died. 

Sebastian Francisco Perez, a 38-year-old Guatemalan immigrant, collapsed in 100-degree heat while moving irrigation lines outside at a farm and nursery in St. Paul, Oregon. Just 500 miles away, a few days later, Ian Booth, a 33-year-old Idahoan working on a landscaping crew near Lewiston, Idaho, died of cardiac arrest from heat exposure. 

Perez’s death in Oregon provoked quick action…