Southern Service Workers Union Rallies in Atlanta for Air Conditioning and Heat Shields – WABE

Georgia service workers line the sidewalk in front of a Popeyes on Wesley Chapel Rd on Tuesday. On a hot summer day, some workers have umbrellas, others have wet rags wrapped around their necks.

A majority held up signs demanding change.

These service workers and members of the Southern Service Workers Union (USSW) are not mobilizing for better wages, benefits or hours, but rather for better working conditions during the summer heat.

The employees, who said they work at various fast food restaurants in the metro area, said air conditioning was broken in several of their workplaces and that the heat regularly posed a health risk during work hours.

“I mean, it’s 89, 90 degrees outside, which is cooler than inside. How is that possible?” asked Arnice Sykes, a USSW member who has worked in several restaurants around Atlanta.

She said that in her experience, it usually takes many rounds of complaints, as well as threats not to come to work and lawsuits from employees before the air conditioning is fixed.

“To stay cool, I had to walk in the freezer for a really long time, because I’m sick,” Sykes said, describing the radiant heat from fryers, ovens, grills and heat lamps.

Other workers described seeing employees faint and experience other health problems due to the lack of air conditioning and water in the kitchens.

The USSW organized this rally, along with simultaneous protests in South Carolina and North Carolina, to highlight the lack of thermal safety standards for workers. They say that as climate change makes summers hotter, their working conditions will only get worse.

Jesús Rubio of Georgia Conservation Voters spoke at the Atlanta rally, saying he had worked at several fast food restaurants and experienced poor management and bad heat.

“The organization that I work for, our goal is to try to save this planet from climate change, it’s no longer a hypothesis: climate change is here,” he said. “And so when we work in kitchens and we understand the heat is unbearable, because there is no air conditioning, the situation is only going to get worse unless we mitigate these issues at the level of the building.”

USSW seeks constant and frequent air conditioning and water breaks from fast food employers.

Additionally, they are looking for managers trained to identify and prevent heat-related illnesses, as well as a seat at the table to develop health and heat safety plans in their workplaces.

According to the Rev. Keyanna Jones of Park Avenue Baptist Church, these requests are the bare minimum when it comes to security.

“What we are demanding is really not too much to ask.”

Some states, like California, already have heat rules in place, but Georgia does not.

At the federal level, some speakers said the U.S. Occupational and Health Safety Administration needs to address the heat. Currently, OSHA has proposed a thermal rule that would cover both indoor and outdoor workers.

“As of Tuesday, June 11, the proposed rule has been submitted to the Office of Management and Budget for review, and we are one step closer to giving workers the protections they need and deserve,” Paloma wrote Renteía from the Office of the United States Department of Labor. Public affairs.

But as the summer heat sets in in Atlanta, workers say relief can’t come fast enough and restaurants must be pushed to improve their conditions.

Popeyes did not respond to comment for this story.