NYC TWU 100 Subway platform workers endure brutal heat, spending hours underground in elevated summer temperatures

NYC TWU 100 Subway platform workers endure brutal heat, spending hours underground in elevated summer temperatures
http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/subway-platform-workers-endure-bruta...
BY DAN RIVOLI NEW YORK DAILY NEWS Saturday, August 1, 2015, 10:44 PM

James Gaines, 58, a station cleaner with the MTA for 25 years, values the 10 minutes of relief in station facilities for workers.
While subway riders endure the scorching heat on platforms, MTA workers toil underground for hours with the elevated temperatures.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority workers try to withstand the summer heat by taking breaks when possible and keeping hydrated.

James Gaines, 58, a station cleaner with the MTA for 25 years, values the 10 minutes of relief in station facilities for workers.

“It would be terrible if I had no heat breaks,” he said. “It would be too hot. You would be sweating and everything. It’s not healthy.”

Gaines stays on platforms hauling trash and walking around to sweep up debris for about two hours at a time before he dips into a break room.

JOE MARINO/NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Antonio Roldan, a Transport Workers Union Local 100 station cleaners official, complained that there are too few station facilities that have proper air conditioning.
At his Borough Hall and Court St. posts in Brooklyn, he takes advantage of arriving trains chilled with air conditioning, ducking his head in when the doors open.

“Stand by the train, get in — whoooo !” he said.

Antonio Roldan, a Transport Workers Union Local 100 station cleaners official, said he wants more opportunities for Gaines and his colleagues to get relief from A/C.

“The only time they get cold air inside stations is when the doors open up,” Roldan griped.

A stuffy room at the High St. stop in Brooklyn was outfitted with a small fan on a folding chair.
Roldan complained that there are too few station facilities that have proper air conditioning. A stuffy room at the High St. stop in Brooklyn was outfitted with a small fan on a folding chair.

“It’s hot, it has an odor to it, there’s no A/C,” said Wanda Jackson, 43, a cleaner at the station. “This is not a room where you relax and chill.”

For Jackson, the high heat is a health risk. An asthmatic who carries an inhaler, Jackson said she used two days of sick time to avoid muggy and hot subway stations the past week.

“Right now, my chest is a little tight,” she said, already sweating after being on the platform. “There’s no ventilation, there’s no air.”

JOE MARINO/NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Gaines stays on platforms hauling trash and walking around to sweep up debris for about two hours at a time before he dips into a break room.
Booths and rooms for workers on a full shift are air-conditioned and water is available throughout the system, MTA spokesman Kevin Ortiz said.

Workers can also call supervisors to get water delivered if there are no coolers or refrigerators around, he said.

“Parts of the system get hot during the summer months. That doesn’t mean that we stop doing the work to keep the system running,” Ortiz said. “We make every effort to mitigate the impact of hot temperatures on our workers.”

Vanessa Jones, a station agent and TWU safety inspector, said the MTA has “been onboard” with trying to put in more air conditioners in worker rooms, but there are still too many that sizzle.

At his Borough Hall and Court St. posts in Brooklyn, he takes advantage of arriving trains chilled with air conditioning, ducking his head in when the doors open.
She recalled one room inside the 59th St./Lexington Ave. station.

“It’s so hot in there, you would think you were walking into Iran,” she said.

“When you have so many people working together, especially on teams, you really need places to cool down,” she added.

But there are other workers in the system unaffiliated with the MTA but still bear the heat.

Omar Faruk, a 36-year-old man from Bangladesh, operates a candy and magazine kiosk for 12 hours a day at the Jay St.-MetroTech station in Brooklyn for the past four years. But Faruk — sitting next to a whirling fan — didn’t seem to want anyone to see him sweat, saying the heat did not bother him.

“I’m a longtime worker, that’s why it feels not bad,” said Faruk, when asked about the stifling heat. “I’m used to it.”

drivoli@nydailynews.com