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<\/p>\nSome concession workers at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport said excessive heat inside kitchens is creating uncomfortable working conditions. <\/p>\n
AUSTIN, Texas \u2014 For weeks, travelers have been dealing with uncomfortably warm temperatures inside Austin’s airport. Now, we’re hearing from workers who spend hours inside the terminal every day.<\/p>\n
Markeeta Presley, employee at Peached Tortilla inside the Austin\u2013Bergstrom International Airport (AUS), said employees feel the heat as soon as they walk into the airport, but conditions are especially difficult inside the kitchen, where grills and ovens add to the already warm environment.<\/p>\n
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“It definitely affects the way that I work,” Presley said.<\/p>\n
Labor union UNITE HERE Local 23 shared photos with KVUE it said show one airport kitchen reaching over 100 degrees and another showing a small fan being used to cool the workspace.<\/p>\n
“It affects them in the way that they feel nauseous,\u201d organizer Iris Leija said. \u201cThey don’t feel like they want to be inside the kitchen cooking.\u201d<\/p>\n
Another employee said the heat was affecting her daily work until officials installed a portable air conditioning unit in the restaurant\u2019s kitchen.\u00a0<\/p>\n
An airport spokesperson said on Tuesday, they inspected the HVAC system and did not identify a mechanical problem. AUS said the systems are operating as designed.<\/p>\n
In a statement to KVUE, the airport acknowledged that the center portion of the Barbara Jordan Terminal has felt warmer than usual during periods of extreme summer heat and heavy passenger traffic.<\/p>\n
Officials said the terminal was originally designed to accommodate significantly fewer passengers than it serves today. During busy travel periods, frequent opening of jet bridges and terminal vestibule doors allows hot outside air into the building, making temperatures more difficult to regulate.<\/p>\n
The airport said it is using supplemental cooling equipment where needed and continuing to monitor and adjust HVAC performance.<\/p>\n
Airport officials said concessionaires are responsible for operating and managing their own kitchen spaces, but the airport continues to coordinate with concession partners to help support comfortable working conditions for employees.<\/p>\n
“We appreciate the patience of our passengers and the dedication of our employees, and we remain committed to providing a safe, comfortable, and welcoming environment for everyone at AUS,\u201d an airport spokesperson said.<\/p>\n
The airport said longer-term improvements are being incorporated into its ongoing Journey With AUS expansion projects, including upgraded HVAC systems as part of the West Gate Expansion, West Infill and Atrium Infill projects.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Officials said future projects, including a new arrivals and departures hall, are also expected to modernize the terminal facilities.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Some concession workers at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport said excessive heat inside kitchens is creating uncomfortable working conditions. AUSTIN,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":398152,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[132,134,133],"class_list":["post-398151","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-austin","tag-austin","tag-austin-headlines","tag-austin-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/398151","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=398151"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/398151\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/398152"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=398151"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=398151"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=398151"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}