An Iraq War veteran, Allied Barton employee and SEIU Local 26 shop steward Kevin Chavis has worked in security for eight years. He now works at the Wells Fargo Building in downtown Minneapolis.
"Too many companies intimidate their workers and scare them," says Kevin. "...But workers have a lot more rights than they realize."
Kevin enjoys being a shop steward for workers at his building, since with his efforts as a go-between. "Everybody knows what's going on with the union, the union knows what's going on where I work." His co-workers "know that they have someone like myself who is working on their behalf so that they have a voice in the union," he adds.
When he started working at an organized company, Kevin's wages went from $9/hour to $13/hour. Health care is better with the union plan, too. He took his son to the doctor for a problem and his insurance covered it. Without the insurance plan, he would have had to pay hundreds of dollars out of pocket.
Kevin tells suburban security workers this: "It's worth your time to join the union because the union is not just some other separate entity. The union is every worker. And as workers, we deserve good livable wages, we deserve good insurance, good benefits, we deserve to take time off to do what we want with our lives."
More on SEIU's national, community-based campaign Stand for Security at www.standforsecurity.org.
