McDonald's Worker Faints, Others Walk Off Job, as Air-Conditioning Fails Amid Heat Wave

The workers said air-conditioning was out for several hours Friday

A worker fainted inside a stifling McDonald's Friday where the air-conditioning was broken on the sixth day of a heat wave that made temperatures feel like the 100s, and some other employees walked off the job in protest.
 
The air was off for several hours at the McDonald's at 181st Street and Broadway, as an excessive heat warning was in effect for New York City.
 
A woman who felt ill asked to leave, but she says her boss told her she had to stay because there was no backup to take her place.
 
Some of the workers contacted Fast Food Forward, an organization that advocates for fast food workers.
 
That group then organized a protest, and two workers walked off the job. The ill woman passed out just before 11 a.m.
 
FDNY confirms paramedics responded to a call for an unconscious person, and transported someone to a hospital.
 
McDonald's did not respond to a request for comment, but the franchise owner said two of the three air-conditioning units in the store had been fixed. Fans and portable AC units were brought in until the third could be fixed, he said.
 
Meanwhile, employees were being allowed frequent breaks.
 
"We take the well-being of our employees and customers very seriously and apologize for any inconvenience and discomfort they may have experienced," said Bruce Colley, the franchisee. "We are working hard to make sure that this does not happen again."
 
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