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Ordinance requires Phoenix Sky Harbor to provide heat-related protections for workers

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Published  March 27, 2024 10:37am MST
Air and Space
FOX 10 Phoenix

Phoenix Sky Harbor to implement heat protections

A new law takes effect in May that requires workers at Phoenix Sky Harbor have access to breaks, cold water and air conditioning.

PHOENIX - Phoenix City Council passed an ordinance to help alleviate heat-related hazards for employees at Phoenix Sky Harbor beginning in May.

The new law helps to improve workplace conditions and requires the airport to provide breaks, air conditioning and cold water to employees.

"We’re glad the city of Phoenix is stepping up to require that airlines and their contractors give us basic heat protections outdoors and in the jet bridges," Cecilia Ortiz, a service agent at Sky Harbor who filed a complaint against an airport contractor, said in a release. 

"Now we need to keep pushing to make sure cabin cleaners, who work inside planes but often with the air conditioning off, are also protected."

Airport Workers United backed Ortiz in a tweet earlier this month:

Temperatures on the Sky Harbor Airport tarmac have been known to rise 40-60 degrees hotter than ambient temperatures, according to a release from the Unite Here Local 11 labor union.

The ordinance also requires the implementation of heat mitigation plans by contractors and subcontractors at the airport.