Why didnt the leftists stop this measure?

If I was one of them, you bet I'd be doing everything in my power to get as many people to team up to run into the fire to avoid the indignity of modern slavery like that. Would rather burn to death.

Under most circumstances this seems like one of the less dystopian options*... because at least on the surface, this is a genuine everybody-problem and not something that drives profit.

Particularly if this actually gives them a career post-release, which seems to be the case in California for at least 4 years now. The alternative is dystopic again.

If this response is more pressured just because of where/who it effects, I could see that being an issue too. The context already dystopic though... like aside from the long-term heat and drought that will continue to be ignored, there was also the profit-over-safety of the PG&E hooks (from another article: PG&E knew old power line parts had ‘severe wear’ months before deadly Camp Fire).

*= Which is probably saying a lot, given that it involves an inferno. And yeah that pay is not great, but what they're being charged daily is likely even worse.