They’re not lovin’ it.
Workers at a Washington Heights McDonald’s say they were forced to work without an air conditioner during yesterday’s heat wave, leaving them hotter than a quarter-pounder and causing an employee to pass out at the restaurant, they said.
Workers who staged a walkout claim they became sick as temperatures outside soared passed 95 degrees and the heat in the kitchen was estimated at 110 degrees.
“In the middle of a heat wave like this, to be expected to stand in a hot kitchen with no air conditioning is inhumane and unsafe,” said Jamne Izquierdo, a striking McDonald’s worker. “We are human beings — we can’t take it anymore.” Other workers at the restaurant on Broadway and 181st Street waved signs reading “No AC / No Peace, Respect Your Workers.”
Employees say 20-year-old Shelyz Mendez was taken to the hospital at around 10:30 a.m. after fainting.
Lack of air conditioning has been a problem at the McDonald’s location for more than a year, workers said.
“It’s like this every summer. They say they’ll fix it, [but] it comes on for 20 minutes and then it’s back off — we’re tired of it,” said worker Luisa Villa, 26, of The Bronx.