Following a string of worker deaths, community leaders and grieving family members of Baltimore City Department of Public Works (DPW) employees have spoken out at City Hall, calling for significant changes. In the most recent instance, Timothy Cartwell, a solid waste worker with DPW, passed away more than a week ago while at work. Cartwell’s sister-in-law, Shantae Carroll, expressed grief and frustration and urged DPW executives and city authorities to act immediately. “You must take the initiative for us. Act morally. Carroll advised, “Fix what needs to be fixed,” according to Fox Baltimore.
Outrage and worries about the working conditions at the agency have been raised by the deaths. Advocates contend that DPW’s “toxic culture” has played a role in these tragedies, with Cartwell’s death being the fourth such death in recent years. Former DPW employee and community leader Linda Batts discussed what many see to be a “pattern of neglect and failure” by DPW’s leadership. Even though an inquiry has been started by the Maryland Occupational Safety and Health program, adjustments are still urgently needed. According to WBALTV, the grieving families are not only demanding justice but also the creation of a citywide advisory board and the reclassification of sanitation workers as public health specialists.
Calls for honor and remembering the deceased go hand in hand with demands for change. In addition to having their pictures displayed inside DPW offices, where trash was jammed against a wooden pole in an alley that led to Cartwell’s tragic tragedy, the families and their supporters want a monument, or wall, to honor the DPW employees who died. Another union fighting for greater transparency is the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), which has frequently asked the city for health and safety information that DPW has not supplied. “We are going to continue to look at what needs to be done, what recommendations we can make to make improvements,” civil rights leader Marvin “Doc” Cheatham told WBALTV, one of the voices calling for these changes.
The demand for change continues, highlighting the pressing need for action to protect city employees, even though DPW chose not to comment. The community is unwavering in its support of a future in which catastrophes of this nature are avoided and eventually unimaginable, even while inquiries into the fatalities continue.
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