I recently read an article about several employees quitting their job at a fast food eating establishment after being forced to work for months without air conditioning.
I personally could not imagine going to work, in a uniform that is most likely pants, absolutely working around hot grills and fryers and being expected to continue working, then the article stated that the outside temperatures were in the 90’s everyday while the air conditioning was off.
This puts the employees at risk for heat related illnesses such as heat stroke and heat exhaustion. I remember when I first started teaching at my school, the air conditioning barely worked in the first classroom they assigned me to. I was teaching in November in the south, where the temperatures were in the 100’s with high humidity. The air conditioning would only come on for about 5 minutes an hour and then came on when the school day was over. I also could not open the windows. I brought the complaint to my principal’s secretary and she instantly gave me temporary classrooms until the school district’s HVAC professionals could fix the issue. If I was forced to stay in that hot classroom, that would have been unsafe for both myself and my students. It is unfair for employees to be forced into absolutely working in dangerous conditions without air conditioning. If the manager of the corporation is not able to fix the air conditioning problem themselves, they should call an HVAC contractor instantly to fix it. If for some reason there is a delay in the HVAC contractor coming out, the corporation should temporarily close until everything is fixed. It is not worth potentially risking an employee’s life.