RYSTAL LEWIS

Working Up a Sweat

One school kitchen, at the Julia Richman Education Complex on the Upper East Side, recorded temperatures as high as 135 degrees during a recent heat wave, according to the union.

“Working in this heat is unhealthy. This is not an ask, this is a longtime need,” said Local 372 President Shaun Francois.

City Council Member Ben Kallos visited that school’s kitchen during a day when sandwiches were being prepared and no ovens were on—and still recorded a temperature that was 15 degrees hotter than it was outside. After he reported his findings to the DOE, an air-conditioning unit was installed in the kitchen.

“But that’s one school, and we have workers across the city who deserve the same recognition and respect,” said Local 372 Vice President Donald Nesbit. “This is not a new problem: when I started in the kitchens as a Cook in 1998, it [was] a problem then and every summer since.”

Several elected officials stated that convening a task force was the bare minimum and actually doing the work to install air- conditioning was what mattered.