In 2002, Senator Ted Kennedy walked the picket lines, held a press conference, and rallied public support for 10,000 Massachusetts janitors fighting for their first contract. His dedication and continued presence throughout the long negotiations helped some of Massachusetts hardest-working and most underpaid workers win a livable wage and access to healthcare----even for part-time janitors.

The year before that, Kennedy stood with several hundred students, activists and SEIU Local 254 (now Local 615) protesting Harvard's failure to provide a ''living wage'' of $10.25 to all its employees, including property service workers. He wrote these words in a letter he sent to activists and workers before their sit-in began:

I have always believed that workers in this great country of ours deserve a living wage.

The issue of whether employers should pay a living wage is a question of the dignity of workers. Are we as a community going to respect individuals that work long and hard, who care for their families, who are our neighbors and friends, who take great pride in their work? I firmly believe that no one who works for a living should have to live in poverty, and I think most Americans understand that, too.

Whether you are employed directly by Harvard or by subcontractors, whether you are full-time or part-time, you perform difficult work with pride and dignity and you deserve to be treated fairly.

Then again in 2006, Kennedy was there for over 250 Harvard security officers who were fighting for a contract. He used whatever connections he had to get the employers to do the right thing. In 2007, he stood in support of janitors trying to get a renewed contract and sent letters of support--they ended up getting a wage that was close to $13.

"From the fight for decent wages and benefits to his pioneering work on healthcare and immigration reform, Kennedy was there, always championing the little guy," recalled Rocio Saenz, President of SEIU Local 615 in Boston and Vice President of SEIU International. "With all of the fights to improve the lives of our workers, he was there. When we won the contract, he was on top of it. He would call and say "this is just so great--such great news for workers..."

Learn more about Senator Kennedy's legacy on SEIU.org, and help us honor him by sharing your memories. Sign our online card to Senator Kennedy's family.

On Saturday, 2,000 security officers who guard Kaiser Permanente facilities ratified a three-year contract with the largest security company in the world, Securitas. The victory by officers at Kaiser holds historic national significance--it is the first-ever national contract for private security officers. Officers will now have family healthcare and a wage increase of 40 cents per hour each year of the contract.

Among the gains officers have won as a result of this contract:

• Healthcare: Officers will now have healthcare with no deductibles, no cost for hospitalization, and $10 co-pays for doctor visits and prescriptions.
  
• Wages: New minimum wage rates set for all regions. Hourly wage increase of $.40 per year over life of the three year contract--so $1.20 total over the three years.
  
• Paid leave: Officers will receive two days per year of paid sick leave, and two days paid bereavement leave. A total of seven days per year will be granted for paid holidays.
  
• Job protections: Security officers stationed at Kaiser will be protected by a grievance procedure that prevents their employer from unfair and arbitrary treatment--providing a realm of job security that will truly make a difference in the guards' working environment.

It's pretty inspiring to see how far these hard working security officers have come over the past few years. Prior to being employed by Securitas, Kaiser guards endured almost four years of threats, intimidation and termination tactics while they struggled to form a union after working without a collective bargaining agreement for 15 years under contractor Inter-Con. During the years these guards were fighting for a voice on the job, they were making poverty wages and receiving very poor benefits--with absolutely no paid sick leave.

Three years without seeing a doctor? Not anymore
"Now that we have this new health care, I feel secure that if I get sick, or my kids get sick, I won't be afraid to take them to the doctor," said Dale Brown, a SEIU Local 24/7 member who works at Kaiser's South Sacramento hospital. "I haven't seen a doctor in almost three years, but now I can get all my necessary doctor visits and be comfortable about it," rejoiced Brown, who is the working mother of a 14-year-old daughter and a 20-year old son in college.

1,600 of the 2,000 officers who protect Kaiser Permanente facilities nationwide work at facilities in California. Other Securitas workers employed at facilities throughout four other states (including the DC metro area and Denver) are expected to vote on the proposed contract this week.

No doubt, you've likely heard about yesterday's tragic shooting incident at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, where security officer Stephen T. Johns tragically lost his life.

The event is a bitter reminder about the importance of these brave men and women who serve as the "first line of defense against a terrorist attack," and the methods that can be taken to ensure their safety while on the job. All in all, there are more than 1 million private security officers in the United States - nearly twice the number of police officers.

On this morning's Today Show, the director of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, Sara Bloomfield, paid tribute to Officer Johns and commended the entire security team for their bravery and heroism:

"Everything happened yesterday as we train for these things. And as I think you've reported, two of our officers did attack this assailant and none of our visitors were hurt, so we feel that this actually worked extremely well, in terms of how many lives were saved in this incident. And again, we want to commend our officers who responded so well and pay tribute to Officer Johns, who also behaved so heroically in this incident."

As members of a union, the security officers at the Holocaust Museum are especially trained to deal with situations like the one from yesterday.

In an interview with the Center for American Progress' ThinkProgress, Steve Maritas, the organizing director of the union that represents them, said the following:

"These guys are security police professionals, which is a whole different level of training compared to security guards...When they train these guys, they're trained on more of a terrorism level."

The unfortunate incident also speaks to the need for better safety on the job. According to the Washington Post, Officer Johns did not have a protective, "bullet-proof" vest that could have aided him during the incident.

Great news for New York City security officers!

From the New York Times:

A labor union representing security guards stationed at dozens of municipal facilities, including the Staten Island Ferry Terminals and the Municipal Building, has reached a deal with the guards' private employers that calls for as much as a 26 percent pay raise over three years and for the first time provides the guards with health insurance.

That "labor union" representing security guards is none other than SEIU Local 32BJ and after months of negotiations with national security contractors Allied Barton and FJC Security Services of Long Island, security officers have won new union contracts that provide significant wage increases, employer-paid family health care and benefits for some 3,000 city-contracted security officers over three years.

This victory is a testament to the security officers that came together to form a union and bargain collectively for not only better wages and benefits, but the promise of raising standards for security officers in NYC.

For six months, the SEIU 32BJ negotiated on behalf of security officers protecting city buildings and facilities in all five boroughs.  The two new agreements raise officers' wages to private-sector wages of over $13 an hour. Officers also gain employer- paid family health coverage, paid days off, 401K and advanced security training.

Allied Barton employs 1,100 security officers who work at more than 100 City facilities throughout the City, including the Municipal Building in Manhattan, Staten Island Ferry Terminals and Brooklyn Boroug Hall. FJC Security Services employs 1,820 security officers who protect sites in the City's Human Resources Administration agency and Department of Homeless Services.

These city-contracted workers now join thousands of other 32BJ members who have won contracts improving security standards in the private sector. 

Please join me in the comments (below) by offering a well deserved congratulations to the security officers of SEIU 32BJ.

Sign up for updates about security officers around the country.

"For me and for so many of my co-workers, the main issue is our healthcare," said Annie Davis, a 54-year-old New York security officer and SEIU Local 32BJ member during her day-long visit with New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. "We don't have sick days. We don't get paid for holidays. It's not even so much our wages, it's the benefits...We are doing some of the most important jobs in the city. "

Davis, who works in the lobby of the city's Department of Health and Mental Hygiene in downtown NYC, makes $11.75 an hour with no days off and no medical coverage. She is one of 1,100 guards at 20 agencies throughout the city who work for private contractor Allied Barton and are considering going on strike by the end of May if things don't improve.

According to Mayor Bloomberg, his day spent with security officer Annie Brown "renewed his appreciation" for what workers go through every day to makes end meet in New York and take care of their families. On his campaign blog, Mayor Bloomberg reflects back on his day spent with Brown as part of Local 32BJ's "Walk a Day in My Shoes" campaign, acknowledging that in spite of the initiatives his administration has invested in to improve the training and compensation of NY's security officers, there's "much more to be done" to ensure the "security guards [that play] a pivotal role in keeping all eight million of us safe" are "well-paid, well-trained, and well-treated." Read the Mayor's blog here.

"Walking a day with a working New Yorker shouldn't just be a prerequisite for our union's endorsement, but a requirement for the job," said 32BJ President Mike Fishman of the local union's "Walk a Day in My Shoes" campaign to get every elected official to experience firsthand what life is like for working people. Mayor Bloomberg is the second NYC mayoral candidate to have taken part in the campaign, after City Comptroller William C. Thompson Jr. walked a day in the shoes of 32BJ member Lateef Rivers last week, spending part of Rivers' shift with him at the Brooklyn Municipal Building.

Read more about about Mayor Bloomberg's and Mr. Thompson's walk-a-days with SEIU 32BJ members in the NY Daily News and the NY Times. Video of Mayor Bloomberg's day with Annie Brown at NY1 here.

Last Friday, security officers who work for Kaiser Permanente medical facilities won a big victory over irresponsible security contractor Inter-Con. -- a company that used threats, intimidation and termination tactics for three years against struggling officers supporting efforts to join a union.

This was a hard-earned victory for the 1,500 Kaiser security guards, who had been making poverty wages--as little as $10 an hour--with poor benefits and no paid sick leave while working under Inter-Con. New contractor Securitas, a company that is friendly to unions in many industries and client sectors throughout California, has committed to hire the security officers who currently protect Kaiser's facilities.

Watch this video of Inter-Con security officers speaking out, shot in May 2008 during the time when the security guards walked off the job at more than 15 Kaiser hospital facilities in Northern California. (And Seeing The Forest blogger Dave Johnson gives a great behind-the-scenes look at how the 3 day strike came to unfold in his Huffington Post piece, "Security Guards Striking for the Right to Have Our Laws Enforced"):

"We are thrilled and relieved that Inter-Con's scare tactics that we've endured for over three years will finally come to an end," said LaRhonda Lynch, a security officer at the Kaiser Permanente Los Angeles Medical Center. The new contract under Securitas will cover 1,800 workers nationwide, 1,500 of whom protect Kaiser facilities in California.

During three-year struggle officers who protect Kaiser Permanente facilities were fired, threatened and interrogated for union support

OAKLAND, CA - Security officers responsible for protecting patients and staff at Kaiser Permanente medical facilities nationwide won a major victory over an irresponsible security contractor after a three-year struggle where officers seeking to join SEIU faced threats, intimidation and termination for union support.

Kaiser Permanente replaced the irresponsible contractor, Inter-Con, with a new contractor called Securitas, a company that is union in many industries and client sectors throughout California.

"We are thrilled and relieved that Inter-Con's scare tactics that we've endured for over three years will finally come to an end, " said LaRhonda Lynch, a security officer at the Kaiser Permanente Los Angeles Medical Center. "Now we can decide for ourselves to join with SEIU so we can raise standards and improve security at our facilities."

Since November 2005, 1,500 Inter-Con security officers in California have been working to improve security and working conditions by forming a union with SEIU. They are the only workers at Kaiser--either direct employees or subcontracted--who do not have a union. The new contractor, Securitas, has committed to hire the security officers that currently protect Kaiser's facilities and has previously ensured that other officers in California had a fair process to form a union with SEIU.

Inter-Con officers work for poverty wages, many making as little as $10 per hour while at Kaiser. Most do not have paid sick days and many do not have any health insurance. By comparison, security officers employed directly by Kaiser have paid family healthcare, paid sick leave, and a pension.

Supported by SEIU Locals 24/7 and SOULA 2006, Inter-Con security officers went on strike last summer and have been working to convince Kaiser Permanente to switch to a responsible contractor. The new contract will cover 1,800 workers nationwide, 1,500 of whom protect Kaiser facilities in California.

"I'm a single mother, and the current insurance plan is too expensive for me to enroll my two kids," said Dale Brown, a security officer in Sacramento. Plus, without paid sick days I can't afford to get sick or to use my own insurance. If were to miss even one week I would be in danger of losing my apartment. I'm happy that we were able to convince Kaiser to do the right thing."

Over the last three years, over 7,000 security officers across California have joined SEIU and improved their working conditions, wages and health care coverage. In 2008, security officers with Local 24/7 in Oakland and SOULA Local 2006 in Los Angeles won first contracts that are among the best ever for security officers. Total compensation--wages and healthcare--increased by nearly forty percent.

"With our nation's economy in crisis, it's more important than ever that hardworking families have good-paying, stable jobs that provide the opportunity to move into the middle class," stated California Assembly Majority Leader Alberto Torrico. "Kaiser has done the right thing by replacing a contractor accused of violating the civil rights of workers. Now these workers will have the chance to earn a decent wage and have the health care that they need to support and care for their families."

SEIU Local 24/7 and SOULA 2006 are part of SEIU United Service Workers West, representing more than 40,000 janitors, security officers, airport service workers, and other property service workers across California. SEIU is the fastest growing labor union in the Americas with more than 2 million members.

Agreement paves way for partnership on mutual goals

WASHINGTON, DC - The Service Employees International Union (SEIU)--the nation's largest union of property services workers--has reached an agreement with The Wackenhut Corporation. The Wackenhut Corporation, the second-largest security company in the United States and a subsidiary of G4S plc, has over 35,000 employees and delivers integrated security and related services to commercial, industrial, and government organizations.

The agreement brings an end to a long dispute and establishes an agreed upon framework to work together in interest of security officers.

"We are encouraged by The Wackenhut leadership's willingness to open dialogue that ultimately resulted in a settlement that will move both our institutions forward productively, said Valarie Long, the SEIU Property Services Division's chief negotiator in the settlement discussions. "This is a positive step forward for security officers and their families all over the country."

At the first annual Minnesota Ethnic and Community Media Awards last week, a reporter won top honors in the Community Services division for her three-part series in the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder that covered the contract battle and groundbreaking one-day strike waged by SEIU Local 26 security officers in Minneapolis in early 2008.

Reporter Lauretta Dawalo Towns' winning news coverage tells the behind-the-scenes story of the Twin Cities security guards who held a one-day strike--the first-ever of its kind in the Twin Cities--against the largest security contractors in the area: ABM, Allied Barton, American, Securitas, and Viking.

The guards were prompted to strike by the continued failure of the security contractors to address the healthcare crisis facing 98 percent of private security officers in the Twin Cities who could not afford the family health insurance offered by their employer, which cost as much as $836 per month. Hard-working guards like Renita Whicker stood with their colleagues, because a parent shouldn't have to choose between paying the rent or taking their children to the doctor. 

After working without a contract for four months, an April bargaining agreement was reached by the security officers in Minneapolis and Saint Paul. The new contract was a huge victory for more than just the 800 guards who gained access to affordable health insurance, paid sick leave, higher wages, and improved training and equipment--it was also viewed as a major step towards paving the way for similar gains by other workers in Minnesota and helping to restore Minnesota's middle class.  

"This [fight was] about protecting working families and protecting people who live, work, and play in our city's downtown," said SEIU member Harrison Bullard, who is a security officer at the Hennepin County Government Center. "People who come downtown want strong, healthy, and well-trained security officers to provide protection for them. 

The guards received notable support from the surrounding communities throughout their long contract battle for better wages and benefits. City council members, Twin Cities mayors, state representatives, political candidates and even clergy from interfaith coalitions all rallied resounding support for the officers.

"It wasn't an easy-won fight," commented SEIU Local 26 member and Securitas guard Darrell Siewart. "But as most people know, quality health care coverage is more than worth fighting for -- it's essential." 

Read the award-winning Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder articles on the SEIU Local 26 security guards: 

    >> "Security officers strike for a living wage -- and respect", 3/2/2008

    >> "Twin Cities security officers enjoy the fruits of their organizing labor," 6/1/2008 

The Ethnic and Community Media Awards are intended to lend greater visibility and recognition to the important journalism produced by grassroots media in the Twin Cities and greater Minnesota. They are sponsored by the Twin Cities Media Alliance, a group that works to bring together media professionals and engaged citizens to improve the quality, accountability and diversity of the local media.

Through SEIU's "Stand for Security Campaign," SEIU Local 26 security officers joined thousands of private security officers in cities from Boston to D.C. to Los Angeles in an historic effort to win affordable individual and family healthcare, wage increases, paid sick days, and increased training so that security officers have a chance to rise up the career ladder, earn enough to raise a family, and move into the middle class.

Sometimes symbols appear unexpectedly.

Jdimytai Damour, a temporary Wal-Mart worker, became a symbol to millions of low-wage workers last Friday when he died a needless death because Wal-Mart failed to take the necessary precautions to protect him. He became a symbol of those workers quietly yielding to unsafe working conditions because they have no voice. Americans need Congress to pass the Employee Free Choice Act next year so that deaths like Mr. Damour's, and so many other deaths and injuries to low-wage workers on the job can be avoided in the future.

In 2007 a respected human rights watchdog group, Human Rights Watch, released a report critical of Wal-Mart's union-busting policies and practices in the United States. According to the report, "while many American companies use weak U.S. laws to stop workers from organizing, the retail giant stands out for the sheer magnitude and aggressiveness of its anti-union apparatus." Wal-Mart's opposition to its workers exercising their legal right to organize has even extended to terminating entire departments and closing entire stores.

For example, in February 2000, ten employees of the Wal-Mart meat department in a Jacksonville, Texas, store elected United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) as their union. Wal-Mart immediately scrapped their entire network of in-store butcher departments nationwide. And in Jonquière, Quebec, after the birth of a certified UFCW Local at a Wal-Mart store and a decision by the Minister of Labor for Quebec to grant the union's request for contract arbitration, Wal-Mart announced that it would close the Jonquière store.

The result of this behavior is that workers are denied a seat at the table to contribute to setting standards that protect them on the job. In the absence of such contributions, management is free to set whatever standards it deems appropriate and workers are obligated to go along if they wish to keep their jobs. To make matters worse, Wal-Mart store management's compensation is based on bonus systems that encourage cutting labor costs, resulting in more temporary workers. Temporary workers like Damour are particularly vulnerable in that environment because they have neither the context nor the influence to express reservations when asked to perform certain duties.

Without a union it is entirely up to Wal-Mart's management to determine whether or not they took legitimate precautions to prevent this incident. In the absence of union representation, let me suggest if it is not already obvious from the events that unfolded, that Wal-Mart failed on at least a few levels to protect its employees and its customers.

First, it appears there was a shortage of adequate security at the doors. Wal-Mart has still not released how many guards were present at the time to control the rushing crowd of 2000 people. Second, the company used at least some temporary workers including Mr. Damour who were not familiar with what to expect on Black Friday. Third, as some news reports have pointed out, unlike other retailers Wal-Mart did not provide tickets for store entry or offer rain-checks for any items that were sold out. All of these choices contributed to the tragic events of that day and the workers who were on the line that morning had no say in making any of them.

More low-wage workers need a voice in their workplace. The current system of certifying a union has failed because employers have found ways to thwart the process, and the federal government has failed to prevent that interference or to protect workers right to organize in any meaningful way. It is time for a change.

Next year, by passing the Employee Free Choice Act, Congress can provide that change. No one will force workers to organize a union, but they will be freer to do so if they choose. I believe that many of them will seek a union for all the reasons that people have wanted unions in the past including workplace safety. Sadly and unexpectedly, Jdimytai Damour will be a symbol for that fight and a powerful reminder of how workers are taken advantage of every day.

(Cross-posted by permission from Huffington Post)

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Related News

In case you missed it........Wal-Mart Watch announced in late Nov. that it would be joining efforts to pass the Employee Free Choice Act so that Wal-Mart's employees and other workers around the country will have the choice to form a union to advocate for better wages and benefits. To martial all available resources toward this effort, Wal-Mart Watch has merged its operations into SEIU to share knowledge and expertise and best serve the efforts to pass the Employee Free Choice Act.

Read the joint statement here.

>> Learn more about Employee Free Choice

Over a thousand security officers represented by Service Employees International Union Local 615 in Boston announced a tentative agreement yesterday after opening negotiations last July with the three of the largest security companies in the area, Allied Barton, Securitas and Northeast Security.

The tentative agreement follows on the heels of a major push by the union this fall to get its new members a contract they badly need to boost wages and improve working conditions. In these tough economic times, security guards have been struggling - and failing - to make ends meet on $11 an hour. Company health insurance is often too expensive to buy, and many downtown guards don't even get paid sick days or vacation time. And even as they hold down key posts in a post-9/11 society, downtown security guards typically take home less pay than the janitors who clean the same buildings.

The organization of security officers to join SEIU Local 615 is the largest effort to unionize African Americans in the city of Boston's history. Learn more at www.StandForMASecurity.org.

SEIU Security Officers United in Los Angeles Local 2006 (SOULA) announced Jan. 26, 2008 they have achieved a ratified agreement on their first union contract. The contract will be the best-ever of its kind in the country, raising total compensation--wages and healthcare--by nearly 40 percent for more than 4,000 hard-working Angelenos.

"We're all thrilled," said Michael Johnson, security officer on the bargaining committee. "Finally I can take care of my family like a man, and do for them how I've always dreamed, just to give them opportunities that I never had." Michael Johnson, like many security officers, works two full time jobs just to make ends meet.

This historic announcement marks an end to the negotiations that began in
June 2007. Security officers struggled against the city's corporate
building owners for more than five years to form the union of their
choice with SEIU. SEIU Security Officers United in Los Angeles (SOULA)
Local 2006 was established in June, 2006.

Read the Los Angeles Times coverage

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SEIU's national "Stand for Security"campaign is the largest organizing effort of mostly African American workers in history, with the potential to impact the lives of up to at least 200,000 security workers and their families nationwide. That's hundreds of thousands more than the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters organized in the 1920s and 1930s, a watershed moment that helped form the black middle class.

Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 2006 Security Officers United in Los Angeles (SOULA) is leading the largest organizing drive among African American workers in the history of the labor movement, with a potential to impact the lives of up to 200,000 predominately African American security officers and their families nationwide. SEIU United Service Workers West represents nearly 10,000 security officers in California. SEIU is the nation's largest security officers union, representing 55,000 nationwide.