After several months of organizing to demand livable wages, health insurance, training and better working conditions, 850 Securitas workers at Los Angeles County and other public facilities will be officially recognized as members of SEIU SOULA. "This is a good first step in raising the standards for these officers. The hard work begins now in trying to negotiate a first contract during these tough economics times," said SEIU SOULA Executive Director Anton Farmby.

Just this summer, 2,000 security officers with SEIU who protect Kaiser Permanente hospitals nationwide signed a three-year contract with Securitas. That contract included wage increases, improved healthcare, paid sick days and holidays. A pending card count of additional officers would bump the number of newly recognized officers up to 1100-- 90 percent of the public work force.

It's time to call a spade a spade.

By using scare tactics - with phrases like "death panels" and "kill grandma," the health insurance industry and other opponents of change have turned the historic opportunity of real health care reform into a political game.

They are insulting your intelligence. They think that by exploiting your fears, you'll want to keep health care as it is today: a broken system with skyrocketing costs.

When security guard Richard Ruiz expressed frustration over he and his coworkers' unsuccessful efforts to form a union in their workplace to Miami New Times' blog Riptide, he was simply trying to give a voice to their struggle.

In January, about seventy-five percent of the Security Alliance guards signed cards to form a union with SEIU--but since that time, he and the 50 or so security guards employed by Security Alliance of Florida in the Miami Beach area had been experiencing intimidation, scare tactics and harassment at the hands of their employer for exercising their rights to organize. Ruiz was the only one out of his coworkers who was willing to speak about their efforts to form a union on the record.

His reward for having the courage to speak out for what he believes in? Losing his job. "We are trying to make this city safer for everybody, but I was fired when they found out I was speaking out and wanted a union," said Richard Ruiz, who was terminated after working for more than two years for Security Alliance. "Employers shouldn't stop decent people from trying to have a better life."

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.

A new government report released yesterday has dropped a bombshell on the state of private security and its ability to protect our nation's most important buildings.

In a routine check on the state of private security for our nation's federal buildings, investigators were able to sneak explosive materials inside - get this - a total of 10 out of 10 times.

The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security has said that poor management on the part of private security companies is a big part of the problem, with insufficient training given by the companies.

Here's what the report found:

• Only 13,000 private security officers are assigned to a total of 9,000 federal buildings.
• In one region that was investigated, officers haven't been trained on x-ray machines in over five years - since 2004.

While officials are vowing to fix the problem - and they say it will take a while - we know that it shouldn't take these kinds of reports to make the changes necessary to keep our buildings safe.

Every day, security officers witness this kind of poor management first hand, but are often afraid to speak out in fear of unjust retribution.

It's time for practices like this to end. Security officers need to be able to carry out their jobs well so that they're better prepared to be the "first" first responders in an emergency.

Watch the video and sign our petition.

Click here.

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.

Healthcare cuts are hurting working families and our communities

Security officers at Kaiser Permanente medical facilities are fighting cuts to their healthcare. The 1,800 officers at Kaiser are employed by Securitas, the largest security company in the world. Even though they protect hospitals, patients, and medical staff at the country's largest non-profit healthcare organization, many security officers now face the impossible choice of putting food on the table or getting medical care for themselves or their family members.

Securitas implemented a series of rollbacks in February that have made healthcare too expensive for many officers and their families.

Deductibles are now sky high--costing $1,000 for just single coverage.
- Prescription drug costs have tripled. Many officers now cannot afford to fill their prescriptions, and some have even resorted to taking medication every other day.
- Routine and preventative care such as doctor visits, blood work, and lab tests now have very high fees. For example, an officer would now have to pay $1,000 for a MRI.
- Co-pays have doubled and even tripled in some cases.

Earning as little as as little as $10.40 an hour, security officers at Kaiser are struggling to pay their bills, put food on the table, and support their families.

Jagdeep Singh, mother of three: "My kids are generally healthy, but they can get sick easily at school. I tell them they can't get sick and just to take Tylenol, because we can't afford to go to the doctor. I just take over-the-counter medicines to avoid getting sick."

Security officers provide a vital service of protection. Members of the public, healthcare providers and patients benefit when security professionals are healthy and receive the care they and their families need.

Today more than 30,000 private security officers nationwide have come together to form a union with SEIU and together have won wage increases, increased training, and affordable health benefits. Together we have built a strong voice to bring more professionalism and respect to private security and these two videos of SEIU members are proof of that.

In this video, Fordham University security officer David Beckford discusses the reasons why he and his fellow security officers came together to form a union with SEIU.

In this second video, Louise Nelson, a security officer in New York City and a SEIU member recites an original poem, "What Price is Security?" which beautifully illustrates the necessity of public safety, but at a high cost to non-union security officers.

After attending the National Worker Mobilization in Washington D.C. March 8-11, security officers returned to their home cities and spread out to talk to non-union security officers about the Employee Free Choice Act.

Hundreds of security officers represented by SEIU spoke with more than 500 officers who currently don't have a union in 12 cities, signing them up to take action on the important worker legislation.

"We all just want the chance to join the middle class," said Steve Tilsley, a Securitas security officer in Denver, Colorado. "The Employee Free Choice act will help restore fairness in the workplace, and that is something we can all agree we need."

SEIU represents more than 30,000 security officers and is the largest security officers union in the country. Stay tuned at www.StandForSecurity.org to follow the security officers around the country.

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.

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.