Wendy’s​ ​Employees​ ​on​ ​Strike​ ​Against​ ​Inadequate​ ​Work​ ​Conditions

By Clayton Kelley
Assistant News Director

After working in 100-plus temperature conditions at Wendy’s, employees have had enough. Josh
Perez, public administrations senior and overnight staff-member, spearheaded a strike this past
weekend in an effort to resolve the matter. Along with equipment constantly on the fritz,
Wendy’s has not had a stable air conditioning unit in the two years Perez has worked there, he
said.

“One of our shift leader managers actually had a heart attack there, and it was hot,” Perez said.
“She fainted at work; I’m guessing she had a heat stroke.”

The heat got so unbearable that one of the employees bought a portable air conditioning unit out of his own
money for the workplace, Perez said. Getting the air conditioning fixed was only the first of four demands brought up at the strike including raising the minimum wage, getting better equipment and providing appropriate training.

“It’s supposed to be upper management training us, not having employees train other employees
who just started,” Perez said. “You basically had the blind leading the blind.”

He said the protest was met with a lot of approval from other surrounding restaurant chains, but
did not receive positive treatment from management at Wendy’s. A supervisor from Wendy’s
said it was not a big deal and that things are back to normal.

Perez hopes with the additional feedback they have been getting from groups, such as Fight for
15 and Socialist Alternative, that there will be improvements.

“It was good seeing the support we had, what I see happening now is that this is only going to
spread,” Perez said. “Everyone has their rights, you just have to look it up as a worker.”

At this time, Perez says Wendy’s is in the process of fixing the air conditioning.