Stancil McNair, the sanitation worker whose grassroots blitz netted him the AFSCME Local 44 presidency on Saturday, says he can’t wait to be sworn in as union leader.

When that happens, hopefully next week, McNair said he and his team will become actively involved in negotiations with the Scott administration over a new contract for sanitation and other blue-collar city employees.

“We’ll go over the whole thing to make sure it helps our people as best as possible. We need real change in the wages and working conditions. That’s what we’ve been fighting for.”

McNair’s insurgent campaign came in the wake of two solid waste worker deaths last year – one resulting from heat exhaustion and the other from a man being crushed by a trash truck in an alley – that corresponded with scathing reports about deplorable conditions at some sanitation yards by Baltimore Inspector General Isabel Mercedes Cumming.

• BREW SPECIAL SERIES: Unsafe conditions for city workers

McNair was one of many Department of Public Works (DPW) employees who roundly denounced Local 44 leadership at a City Council hearing last April, saying union officials allowed their pay to languish for years, rarely visited city facilities, didn’t respond to worker calls and failed to address long-festering safety problems.

At a subsequent union meeting, in which then-Local President Dorothy Bryant kicked out a Brew reporter, McNair emerged to complain that his group was being treated the same way.

“That’s just like what they do to us! Cutting people off. Not letting ’em talk or be heard,” he said from the union parking lot.

Last-Minute Announcement

After months of negotiations, Local 44 Vice President Trevor Taylor made a surprise announcement of a tentative contract with the city last Thursday night. The announcement trumpeted a proposed 19% wage hike over three years, plus the first increase in hazard pay in over 25 years.

Taylor coupled the message with a vigorous pitch for his own candidacy as president, emailing all union members: “Your Voice. Your Future. Together We Rise! Vote Trevor Taylor for President.”

After Saturday’s vote, where entry to AFSCME’s headquarters was again blocked to the media, Taylor raced out of the hall without any comment.

McNair declared victory on the parking lot. The Brew obtained a vote tally indicating McNair won 125-103.

The election results have still not been posted on the the union’s X or Facebook pages.

AFSCME Council 3 President Pat Moran, Director of Growth Stuart Katzenberg and other officials have not responded to multiple text messages and phone calls about the election results and about McNair’s swearing-in date.

None of which seems to concern the trash collector turned union president, who promised this afternoon:

“We’re going to hit the ground running. We’re bringing love into the union because, right now, there’s been no love, no respect for the people. That’s a gonna change.”