A coalition of Baltimore City Council members and union leaders came together Tuesday morning to demand more protection for public employees following the heat-related death of a sanitation worker.
The death of Ronald Silver II was preventable, said leaders for the AFSCME Council 3, the union representing the city’s public service workers. Council members Antonio Glover, Isaac “Yitzy” Schleifer and Zeke Cohen as well as city Comptroller Bill Henry joined them outside of City Hall to call for immediate improvements to the working conditions and culture within the Department of Public Works.
The city’s health department had issued a Code Red heat alert on Friday, the day Silver died, when the heat index reached 105 degrees. The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner later confirmed Silver’s cause of death was hyperthermia.
“The toxic culture at DPW [the Department of Public Works] must be gutted,” said Patrick Moran, the president of AFSCME Maryland.
Moran, speaking passionately at the press conference, referenced alleged bullying, hazing and intimidation from department management.
“If it’s your management style, then you need to leave or we will help you leave the city,” he said.
The coalition of city leaders and labor representatives are demanding a full-time position in Baltimore’s Office of the Inspector General to focus on safety at the public works department; increased DPW staffing; full cooperation from Mayor Brandon Scott’s administration in City Council investigations; and an independent review of the city’s facility maintenance contracts.
During the press conference, the leaders also called for the unions to be included in any investigation process and demanded regular training for all employees on health and safety, including first aid, CPR and heat exposure.
Long before he was elected to Baltimore City Council, Antonio Glover worked for the department. Silver’s death and worker safety is “near and dear” to him, he said.
“We can no longer treat our men and women like the very same thing they pick up, trash,” he said.
Silver’s death must be a wake-up call, said council member Zeke Cohen.
“No one should have to wonder if it’s the last time they’ll say goodbye to their family when they leave for work,” he said.
Gov. Wes Moore called for a “full investigation” on Tuesday and said he wants government employees “to know that their safety is going to be of the highest priority.”
“These are the people who are doing the basic work to make sure that our streets are clean, the basic work to make sure that our waterways are clean, the basic work to make sure that we’re having trash and recycling pickups,” Moore said, speaking at the State House. “This is really important but really challenging work, and really challenging work in some difficult circumstances.”
Moore added that he wants to make sure the state government is providing support to get that work done safely. When asked, he declined to disclose the individuals or agencies involved in investigating the incident.
In a statement Monday, DPW said it is committed to prioritizing the health and safety of its workers as Baltimore continues to experience extreme heat. The department declined a request for further comment Tuesday.
On WYPR’s Midday on Tuesday, Scott argued that poor working conditions at DPW stem from decades of disinvestment predating his time in City Hall. These issues must be addressed “systematically,” he said.
At points, the mayor sounded defensive, arguing that there’s “no way” to do sanitation work in Baltimore in the summer without facing severe heat. At some point, officials are going to have to have “serious conversations about the work itself,” the mayor said.
“We should be reminded that this work that he does is outside. It was a 100 and some degrees that day,” Scott said.
Still, Scott said out of respect for Silver and his family, he would not go into more depth on those conditions right now.
Scott said training related to working in extreme heat has been “offered” to employees before. Tuesday’s is mandatory for some employees, according to the department. He reiterated his close working relationship with the city’s unions and commended sanitation workers for the “yeoman’s job” they do, taking work that others won’t even consider.
In addition to the training, Scott said Roberta’s House, a nonprofit, was on site offering grief counseling to Silver’s co-workers.
Scott said the state office of safety and health is leading an investigation into Silver’s death, and the Baltimore Police Department is “conducting a review” of the incident, which Scott said is standard.
And in a statement Tuesday afternoon, Scott said in the wake of Silver’s death, “we are going to work through every single concern alongside the union, members of council, and the rank-and-file DPW workers who are on the frontlines serving Baltimoreans every single day.”
“We are making the investments, both short-term and long-term, that these workers have not received in far too long,” Scott’s statement said. “And together, we will ensure that our workers are able to do their work safely, securely, and with confidence that this Administration is behind them fully.”
Baltimore’s DPW halted all trash and recycling collection Tuesday to hold mandatory heat safety training sessions for employees at its Reedbird and Bowleys Lane facilities, a measure the coalition applauded but insisted did not go far enough.
Two employees at the Cherry Hill DPW facility, who spoke anonymously because they did not have permission to speak to reporters, said they wanted to see changes in the department.
“Maybe they should get more breaks. Make sure they have water available,” one of the employees said. “And if someone is tired and doesn’t feel good, listen to them.”
One of the employees said they didn’t really know Silver, “but it’s a really sad day when you lose a coworker.”
Extreme heat is the deadliest weather-related phenomenon in the United States. Hyperthermia happens when the body’s temperature climbs too high. Avoiding heat-heat related illness is all about prevention, according to the Maryland Department of Health.
Stuart Katzenberg, a spokesperson for AFSCME Council 3, said he is aware of other possible heat illness incidents from Friday and that the union has asked the department for data including recent ambulance calls and hospitalizations.
Residents who said they saw Silver collapse told WYPR that Silver’s co-worker did not appear to be calling emergency services, but on the phone with a DPW supervisor.
“I guess the driver had done the last round of trash pickup for Ronald, because Ronald couldn’t do it. The driver said that he thought he was just being lazy and didn’t want to work,” Gabrielle Avendano, one of the residents, told the NPR affiliate. Michael Cox, another neighbor, confirmed hearing the driver say the same thing.
According to Avendano and Cox, the driver told them that Silver had been complaining of leg and chest pain throughout the day.
“I’m shocked and so sad that he died, because I think it could have been prevented if they had just called 911 sooner in the day,” Avendano said. “He had been complaining for most of the day about the pain that he was in, and nobody called for help except for me.”
There were 14 heat-related deaths in Maryland as of July 31, according to data published weekly by the state health department. There were nine heat-related deaths in 2023 and only five in 2022.
Silver’s death on Friday is not included in that count. Six of those deaths were in Prince George’s County and three of them were in Baltimore City.
Baltimore Banner reporters Lee O. Sanderlin, Adam Willis, Pamela Wood and Meredith Cohn, and WYPR’s Emily Hofstaedter, contributed to this story. WYPR is a media partner of The Baltimore Banner.
