On July 2, workers at a KFC restaurant in the rural town of Hartselle in northern Alabama carried out a walkout after working for more than six weeks without air conditioning. The walkout was led by the store’s general manager Ta Edwards, who was fired immediately by the restaurant’s operator, Tasty Chick’n LLC. The remaining employees were forced to return to work on July 5 after Tasty Chick’n falsely claimed they had repaired the restaurant’s AC unit.
Tasty Chick’n LLC manages KFC franchises on behalf of Tasty Brands, which is itself owned by private equity firm Triton Pacific Capital Partners. Tasty Brands is one of many enterprises that have profited during the pandemic; between the fourth quarters of 2020 and 2021, its adjusted income rose from $2.9 million to $3.4 million.
The walkout took place during a summer which has seen record-breaking heat waves in many parts of the country. The week before the walkout, 24-year-old UPS driver Esteban Chavez, Jr. died of suspected heat stroke in Pasadena, California. Air temperatures had risen above the mid 90s, and UPS trucks are not air conditioned. Workers at the Hartselle KFC had begun exhibiting worrying early symptoms of heat stroke before the walkout, indicating that it may have literally saved lives.
The unit broke down in the middle of May as temperatures in Alabama skyrocketed. Edwards informed his direct supervisor, Director of Operations Earnest Smith, of the malfunction on May 16. An HVAC maintenance repairman inspected the unit and reported to Edwards that each of the system’s three compressors had stopped working. Smith assured Edwards that the compressors would be repaired within a week.
“That’s all I heard until a couple of weeks ago,” Edwards told the World Socialist Web Site. “Next week, next week, next week.”
With a nationwide heat wave bearing down, the temperatures in the kitchen rose to 100 degrees Fahrenheit. “There was some nights I had to send people home because they were so tired and so exhausted. People were on the verge of passing out and turning red. One kid stopped sweating, and I knew that was a sign of dehydration. I sent him home and told him to tell his parents what’s going on,” says Edwards.
As the weeks went by, conditions became more and more unbearable. Edwards refused to discipline the no-call, no-shows. “Why,” he asks, “would you want to come to work in a 100 degrees kitchen for ten dollars an hour?”
“Both coolers were malfunctioning and the freezer too,” Edwards said. Coleslaw spoiled prematurely in the overburdened coolers; management directed Edwards to put it on ice until it looked presentable again and sell it anyway. Edwards refused.
“[Tasty Chick’n] doesn’t care anything about the food they’re selling or the safety of their employees. It’s all money, money, money,” Edwards says. “Eventually, I got tired of hearing ‘next week.’”
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