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I have no doubt that you weren't there and are making statements that could be true or false. I also have no doubt that "several of" doesn't mean "all of".
I guess I get the most bothered by people on a forum like this who think they have all of the answers, and are so willing to pass judgment on people they never met and don't know, and dismiss their experiences so easily when they weren't there. It is amazing how many people here seem to know exactly what must have been going on, or what the situation really must be like. The only other forum I've seen people so quick to judge their fellow man are local news channel forums, and those bring out people with far less intelligence than the people I believe exist on this forum. Perhaps feeling self-righteous can happen at all levels of intellect, or perhaps we, as geeks, are sometimes lacking in empathy that we really need to work on. I don't know.
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Mastercheeze, I do give credit to the people who do this sort of work as a permanent career and know what it is all about. I can say that while I've worked in a warehouse, I never did it for more than a couple of years.
Of the people interviewed, the ones I took very seriously were those that had warehouse experience. When those are the ones commenting that the job at hand is much tougher than the previous warehouses they worked at, that's when I get concerned. I get more concerned when there are days that go by when an ambulance is stationed on company premises, and when an ER doctor actually takes their own initiative to call OSHA.
I'm a cyclist, who has done multiple week-long rides across an entire state, in 90-100F weather, so I know the value of hydration (though doing it on a bike at least cools you down, as opposed to fast-walking, as you create your own breeze). However, one of the things that bothered me when reading the article was about the possible threat of write-ups or "points" from getting water and slowing down service. People noted here that much of those incidents were removed or voided --but should employees ever been written up in the first place for slowing their pace a little on a 90-110F heat index warehouse floor? Once you have written people up, even if you take it back, it sets a precedent for what you may do in the future --and perhaps people stop taking that heat break, or getting a drink of water, because they are worried about their jobs.
I also wonder how many of the solutions in this environment were reactive, rather than proactive. While every solution is better late than never, how many of these solutions were due to negative attention or publicity? I can't say for sure, and so I'll acknowledge that. Neither can anyone here say that everything Amazon/ISS did, they planned to do prior to heat issues appearing.
In every environment, we have a few whiners and complainers. There are always one or two people willing to work the system. However, I see a lot of people lumping everyone here into this contingent, rather than acknowledging that in every environment, we also have hard workers, people who take pride in their job and want to get it done --and I don't see a lot of people in the forum allowing for the possibility that conditions might really be an issue.
Finally, note that I didn't say at any point in this thread that the warehouses have to have AC. I'm well aware of what kind of costs we're talking, etc. What I'm saying is there needs to be a system of fairness, that might consist of some of the following:
-Quality ventilation systems to circulate air through the warehouse. Ventilation could (note, I haven't been there, so I say could) be the issue.
-Mandatory drink breaks every hour on days where the heat index exceeds xx degrees. Stagger the breaks among groups of employees so production remains constant.
-Educating employees on proper hydration (e.g., how often, what liquids hydrate well, etc.). Warehouse work is often unskilled, and so not everyone has an education to make them aware of best practices.
-Finally, not having an atmosphere that makes people feel threatened that getting a drink, etc. is going to get them penalized.
I don't think workers should be coddled --I only think they should be valued, as they perform a service for their company. There should be expectations for production --just as there should be expectations for fair treatment.
