Raleigh sanitation workers want more protection from virus after supervisor's death

The death has rattled other Solid Waste Services workers, who say Raleigh leaders aren't doing enough to help front-line workers.

"It doesn’t hit home until it hits home," Charlen Parker, a Solid Waste Services worker and president of the Raleigh City Workers Union, said Friday. "Who has he been around? You know, what has he touched? That starts to become the concern now. Did he possibly infect anybody else, or could we possibly be infected?"

Parker called it a "very strong possibility" that workers might park their collection trucks and stop coming to work out of fear over the virus.

"Nobody I am aware of in the building has been tested," he said. "You have quarantined two people, and there is over 150 people that work there.

"A lot of us do feel like the city is letting us down," he added.

Mayor MaryAnn Baldwin said City Manager Ruffin Hall is addressing the workers' concerns by staggering start times, reducing the number of workers per truck from three to two for better "social distancing," providing more protective gear, increasing cleaning in city buildings and supplying thermometers to check workers' temperatures when they report to work.

Raleigh residents could also help, officials said, by cleaning the handles on their garbage cans and bagging recyclables so workers don't have to handle individual items.

"We feel like we should be the first ones tested, especially if you already have a case,” he said.