Call Center Managers Reserves Break Room for Higher-Ups Only, Forcing Employees to Eat Lunch on a Bench in Front of the Bathrooms

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Managers eat their lunch in the break room, forcing call center employees to eat in the hallway.

They removed our break room to add more desks, then opened a managers-only lounge upstairs

I work in a customer support office with about 60 people on our floor. For years, we had a small break room with two tables, a microwave, a fridge, and a few chairs that didn't completely destroy your back.
It wasn't fancy, but it was the only place where we could eat without sitting at our desks and answering questions between bites.
Three months ago, management announced that the company was "optimizing underused space" because several new employees were joining. They emptied the break room, threw away the tables, and installed twelve new workstations.
We were told to eat at our desks or use a narrow bench near the elevators. The bench fits about four people and sits directly across from the bathrooms, so lunch now comes with atmosphere.
People complained, especially because food technically isn't allowed at our desks due to the equipment and customer privacy rules. Management's solution was to tell us to "use good judgment."
One supervisor suggested that people eat in their cars, apparently forgetting that plenty of employees take the bus. Another said our breaks were only 15 minutes anyway, so there wasn't much need for a dedicated room.
Since then, people have been eating on the stairs, standing beside the vending machines, or balancing containers on their laps outside the building. Every time
someone complained, we were told there simply wasn't enough space and that everyone needed to be flexible.
Last week, I had to deliver some paperwork to the executive floor and discovered their brand- new "leadership wellness lounge."
It has couches, a full kitchen, two refrigerators, soft lighting, private booths for "decompression," and a coffee machine that probably costs more than my car.
There was also a sign explaining that access was limited to managers and above because leadership needs a quiet place to recharge and maintain "decision quality."
The lounge takes up roughly twice as much space as our old break room.
A coworker posted a photo of it in our team chat, and management deleted it almost immediately. Apparently, taking pictures of restricted areas creates a security concern.
Yesterday, they sent an email reminding us that complaining about workplace facilities in group channels is "unproductive and harmful to morale."
Apparently, morale isn't harmed by eating lunch across from a bathroom. It's only harmed when employees notice that the people who removed their chairs now have a private espresso machine and nap couches.
Electronic-Sell-6402 Time for a benevolent worker revolt. Either send the pic of the executive lounge and as as a bunch of how the commoners eat, to a local paper or news station. Let them start getting asked about it on the record and see what happens. Or, plan a day for all the workers to get their lunch and just march up and take over the lounge. Claim that you are "using your best judgement" on determining where to eat, per their instructions.
pkinetics Leave food trash in bathrooms, stairwells, fire exits, conference rooms.
RedDragon0414 Isn't there a law somewhere that says you have to have a break room and at least 30 minutes for lunch per 8 hours?

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