Union Hopes to Organize L.A. Security Guards

[Guest]

Interesting article about the SEIU's continuing attempts to unionize security guards in LA. I find the tactics they have resorted to using very telling. Here is a link to the article:

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-guards26jun26,1,1720059.story?coll=la-headlines-california

[N. A. Corbier]

This is very telling. The last bit, the guard having to meet the union representative in a loading dock...

So, basically, the union is encouraging the guards to abandon their duties. The guard allowed an unauthorized person on the property to conduct personal business.

I'm so glad they're in Milwaukee. Yes'sir'ee.

[aka Bull]

What bothers me about SEIU's attempt to organize security is that I doubt seriously how straight forward these organizers are being about what will happen when the members find themselves out voted on issues, like going on a strike, and suddenly they are walking a picket line, losing even the low wages they now earn.

The other factor I doubt SEIU is being honest about is how much those NY $18 an hour officers are actually taking home after taxes, benefit costs and the union's chunk being taken out for representing them.

Those benefits won't come free, and you know the reps are putting things in the light that best shows how beneficial their representation would be.

SEIU is definitely trying to become the power force for security personnel. If they manage to gain enough strength nationally for security personnel I can also imagine how they'd react to any group or association trying to improve the profession without being a union.

I've seen an SEIU local in action when I was in California, and they always left a bad taste in my mouth. I really hope this is one battle they fail at for I see an ill future for the profession if they win.

[boes1970]

Help me out on this one please

I've read the article and what suprised me is the way this union walkes.

It's 2006 and we have many methods to inform people. And we all have brains to use.

So here's my doubt in this story.

Why does this union have to use the methods they are using?

If you guys want to join up, I bet you all know where to find them!

And why is it that the officers aren't members already if it's all so good?

Maybe my questions look silly, but I come from Holland. We have a thing called CAO (collective agreements about the proffesion). That's includes payment, max hours off work and more.

And to join a union, nobody will harm you in any way if you want to. And everybody have a right to strike here, aslong as public safety is not to be in danger.

[Guest]

I have always been a pro-union guy, but what the SEIU is doing here is just downright shady!

Bull is right about his $18 per hour comment. If you factor all the things Bull says, plus the cost of living anywhere in NYC, much less Manhattan, $18 per hour is not a whole lot.

Boes, labor unions in the U.S.A. operate much differently than they do in Europe. In theory, all a group of employees need to do to unionize is have a vote. In practice, most anti-union employers can and do put up so many roadblocks a vote never happens.

[N. A. Corbier]

They can't have a vote because they're security workers who are trying to join the same union that other workers are in. They have to bypass that with the card majority. That's why they're blitzing the way they are.

I am pro-union when the union actually understands the industry that they're dealing with. With the tactics and retoric the SEIU is using... Its obvious they're painting a picture that is different from the landscape.

The SEIU has made security out to be a racial issue. "The majority of all security guards are African-American." On their website stand for security, they have videos of minority workers. Most of these folks look like they work for the huge companies. We're talking about the suited doormen, not uniforms.

That's who they're trying to unionize. The suited doormen from the security companies.

A few other things that got my attention are "master contracts," and other such things.

The SEIU Illinois Local 1 is trying to get a Line of Duty Death benefits for security guards. Including free tuition in local colleges and universities for survivor dependents.

This is great, except for one problem. Unlike the State Peace Officer Benefits Act, which our tax dollars pay for, this LOD benefit act will be the responsibility of "the industry" to pay for. I can see some ways that this law would bankrupt the smaller companies, and the largest ones would find ways of not having to pay.

[Lawson]

All I can say is that I am 100% glad that Wackenhut has decided not to unionize through SEIU. I am glad that I am not in a union where I have to strike if some janitor doesn't feel that he shouldn't be allowed to sleep in the boss's chair after 3am and the Janitor union goes on strike. Is SEIU going to pay my full wage and benefits while I am on some picket line I dont care about???

The SEIU is a joke. Just a money-hungry organization that could care less about its members.

[N. A. Corbier]

All I can say is that I am 100% glad that Wackenhut has decided not to unionize through SEIU. I am glad that I am not in a union where I have to strike if some janitor doesn't feel that he shouldn't be allowed to sleep in the boss's chair after 3am and the Janitor union goes on strike. Is SEIU going to pay my full wage and benefits while I am on some picket line I dont care about???

The SEIU is a joke. Just a money-hungry organization that could care less about its members.

Oh, but Lawson! All they have to do is go to your job site. Get 75% of everyone on that job site to fill out cards. Then, you're in the union. And according to them, you can't throw them out because they're union canvasing.