SAN FRANCISCO
Historic strike of low-paid security guards
By
Special to Workers World
Published Oct 13, 2007 7:55 AM
With large, loud and disciplined rallies and marches through downtown San
Francisco, security officers ended a historic three-day strike against their
employers, targeting three large companies including ABM, on Sept. 27. The
security guards work in this city’s high-rise office buildings.
Day three of strike.
Photo: SEIU
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Organized by their union, the 6,000-member Local 24/7 of the Service Employees
International Union, the predominantly African American, Filipino and Latino
security officers marched behind a banner reading, “Stop the Double
Standard Now.”
The union is demanding that security companies and building owners improve
wages and conditions for guards and sign a new union contract. Local 24/7
charges that employers maintain a double standard, paying these security guards
less and providing fewer benefits than other workers in the same buildings.
The union is demanding wage and benefit parity with janitors in the downtown
buildings who make an average of $5 more per hour and have better benefits.
This is the first-ever strike by security officers on the West Coast, according
to the union. Company attempts to bring in strikebreakers were turned away by
the militant picket lines. Workers picketed at struck buildings, and held
rallies at 6 a.m., noon and 4:30 p.m., during the three-day strike.
Strikers returned to work after three days in a good-faith gesture as
negotiations resumed. One employer attempted to lock out the returning workers.
But after the workers marched and occupied a building lobby, the lockout was
ended and they went back to work.
On Oct. 4, however, after security companies refused to negotiate a fair union
contract, security guards and their supporters marched through downtown, sat in
and blocked an intersection.
Family medical care is a key demand. One security worker, Jason Chen,
interviewed on KPFA Radio, said family medical care costs him $500 a month and
eats up over one-quarter of his paycheck. Pay for security officers, according
to the KPFA report, is around $10 to $12 per hour, which doesn’t go far
in a high-cost-of-living area like San Francisco.
They have been working without a contract for three months since the old
contract expired.
The California Legislative Black Caucus has issued a report on “Poverty
Conditions in Private Security,” which highlights the plight of security
officers working in office buildings owned by the likes of Morgan Stanley Real
Estate and prominent San Francisco property millionaire and Democratic Party
fundraiser Walter Shorenstein. Over half the security union’s membership
is African American.
Local 24/7 modeled the campaign after an earlier Service Employees drive by
downtown San Francisco janitors that resulted in substantial gains for the
workers. Many janitors, as well as labor and community supporters, had joined
picket lines to support the security guards.
San Francisco’s mayor and board of supervisors have urged building owners
to negotiate with the union to close the wage gap and provide affordable health
care, the union said. Local 24/7, formerly the International Union of Security
Officers, voted to affiliate with the Service Employees in 2001.
For more information, go to www.stopthedoublestandard.org
or call Gina Bowers at
310-291-5711.
Articles copyright 1995-2012 Workers World.
Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire article is permitted in any medium without royalty provided this notice is preserved.
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