Documented
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19th May 2025
Workers at LaGuardia Airport Demand Heat Protections Amid Rising Temps
It was a sweltering 95 degrees at the tarmac at LaGuardia Airport on July 8, 2024, but for Garvey Barrett, a 68-year-old Jamaican baggage handler for Alliance Ground International, it felt more like the top of a griddle.
A tarmac’s dark pavement absorbs and radiates heat, which means surface temperatures can rise to 20 degrees hotter than the air temperature. “It was one of the hottest days of the year,” Barrett recalled. “We are outside a lot, working hard.”
That day, Barrett demanded th...