Food worker wants raise for delivering in heat wave

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Food worker wants raise for delivering in heat wave

Park Jung-hoon, a fast-food delivery worker, stood outside a McDonald’s near Seoul City Hall on Friday demanding a 100 won ($0.09) raise for delivering “in extreme heat.”

“Grant a 100 won raise for delivering in the heat,” read a sign that Park held in protest. According to Park, fast-food delivery workers get paid around 400 won per delivery.

“It’s not a huge raise, what I’m asking for,” Park told SBS on Friday, “but I think it will help the rest of us delivery guys feel respected and appreciated for delivering in the intense heat.”

Appearing on an SBS talk show on Saturday, Park elaborated further. “More people order delivery food when it gets hotter outside,” he said, “because people don’t want to go anywhere. I work about seven and a half hours every day. I drive on hot asphalt roads and in the middle of all the gas and smoke from cars. I can’t wear a mask because it’s too hot, and even when I drive faster on a motorcycle, the air is still so hot between those cars on the road.”

McDonald’s Korea does provide a 100 won raise per delivery when the workers have to deliver in heavy rain or snow. “We’re not sure if we will implement a similar raise for delivering in heat waves,” a McDonald’s Korea spokesman told SBS.

Sweltering heat pushed Seoul’s temperature to the second-highest level on record on Tuesday, with the mercury forecast to rise further, the Korea Meteorological Administration said.

The city recorded a temperature of 38.3 degrees Celsius (110.9 degrees Fahrenheit) at 3:19 p.m., the second-highest temperature recorded since July 24, 1994, when it peaked at 38.4 degrees Celsius.

The Korea Meteorological Administration said the temperature might break that record over the next couple of days, with Seoul possibly reaching an all-time high of 39 degrees.

BY HONG SU-MIN, YONHAP [chung.juhee@joongang.co.kr]
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