Contact:
Ray Baker
Communications Director, AFT Maryland
rbaker@aftmd.org | (410) 585-7862
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
City Union of Baltimore Statement on OIG Updated Report on DPW Facilities
Baltimore, MD - The City Union of Baltimore (CUB) has continued to advocate for healthier and safer worksites for Baltimore City Employees. CUB documented this in our 2022 health and safety report produced with support from our state federation, AFT Maryland, and the national AFT. Below is a statement attributable to President Antoinette Ryan-Johnson following the recently updated OIG report on DPW worksites:
Reading the OIG's report I am disturbed that rather than addressing the issues at DPW facilities, the Director is engaging in a back and forth about which faucets work correctly and which ones do not. The Inspector General's report echoes the work done by CUB's own investigation produced in 2022 that documented the unsafe and unhealthy working conditions for Baltimore city employees.
The update to the OIG's report produced on Tuesday July 23 should suggest to the public and affirms to us at the union that Baltimore city refuses to address infrastructural flaws at worksites across the city. While the OIG's report focuses on DPW facilities, we have found DPW is not the only agency with unacceptable bordering on inhumane work conditions. The recent heatwave only exacerbated the challenges our members face going to work. Sadly, I even had to respond to urine leaking from the ceiling of a Baltimore city worksite.
The mayor has repeatedly suggested Baltimore is in its renaissance. There can be no renaissance of the city if the workers who make the city run aren't sufficiently supported with healthy and safe environments to work.
2024-07-24