Workers at a Decatur Burger King held a rally Friday demanding safe working conditions, prompted by a broken air conditioner. They’ve also filed an Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) complaint, saying the franchise owner’s negligence has caused workers to get sick.
The workers, led by Erica Favors and Arnice Sykes, coordinated the action with the Union of Southern Service Workers (USSW). Favors and Sykes said they’d been working for a considerable time without a functioning air conditioner at their Burger King, located at 2682 Candler Road.
“I looked at the thermostat the other day, and it said 92 or 93 degrees,” said Sykes, who has worked at the location for the past two years and makes $13 an hour. “You know it’s bad when it’s cooler outside than it is inside.”
Sykes said the workers were given box fans to cool down the back-of-the-house area, where all of the food preparation and cooking takes place. Workers spend most of their time in the back and the cooking equipment makes it much warmer than the customer seating area.
“During the summer, you need air conditioning. The sales at our location shouldn’t make a difference on whether our A/C gets fixed. Burger King is a billion-dollar company,” said Favors, who makes $12 an hour. “My health has been declining since working there. I’ve been lightheaded and sluggish, just trying to take care of my family.”
Sykes said the workers were given box fans to cool down the back-of-the-house area, where all of the food preparation and cooking takes place. Workers spend most of their time in the back and the cooking equipment makes it much warmer than the customer seating area.
“During the summer, you need air conditioning. The sales at our location shouldn’t make a difference on whether our A/C gets fixed. Burger King is a billion-dollar company,” said Favors, who makes $12 an hour. “My health has been declining since working there. I’ve been lightheaded and sluggish, just trying to take care of my family.”
Sykes said the high heat in the store’s kitchen area also has placed her health at risk. “I’m very sickly. I’m diabetic, and I have a machine in my heart,” she said. “All of this extreme heat doesn’t do anything but just drain me. I have to go to the freezer in order to get cool.”
Sykes joined USSW after it formed last November as an offshoot of the Service Employees International Union. She and Favors said the July 28 rally was to put pressure on the management of their Burger King location – and raise awareness of USSW’s demands for the health and safety of service workers.
Burger King’s corporate office said it has contacted the franchisee for the Decatur store to fix the air conditioning. “We have been in contact with the franchisee in this area and they are taking the appropriate steps to ensure the AC units are working properly, including temporarily closing restaurants that need AC repairs,” said a Burger King spokesperson in an email.
“Providing a safe working environment for team members is a fundamental requirement for the Burger King brand and franchisees who operate restaurants across the country,” the spokesperson added.
Workers from other companies attended the Friday rally outside the Decatur Burger King as well, including Tay Millsap, a former Dollar General employee, who also complained about the extreme heat in her store.
“The heat was so bad at Dollar General that I couldn’t stay at work. I was breaking out from sweating so much,” said Millsap. “I would feel nauseous, my head would start hurting, and they would tell me to stand in front of the fan. But it didn’t help at all. We needed air conditioning.
The Burger King workers are awaiting a follow-up on their OSHA complaint.
OSHA’s website says workers facing extreme heat at work have the right to ask for an OSHA inspection and speak to an inspector. It’s illegal for an employer to fire or otherwise retaliate against a worker for making a complaint to OSHA.
According to the Union of Southern Service Workers, Burger King closed the store on Saturday and fixed the air conditioning. Workers at the location confirmed that it is working.
Burger King should be ashamed of themselves. This problem is an easy fix. Hire a repairman or have the unit replaced! Burger King has the money to do so.