SAN FRANCISCO – As contract negotiations for 4,000 Bay Area security officers are scheduled to resume, African American community leaders, civil rights leaders, clergy and labor leaders from South Africa to Washington, D.C. and across California are calling on San Francisco’s real estate giants to create good jobs for thousands of mostly African American security officers. Well over half of Bay Area security officers are African American.
“We cannot have a safe and secure society when building owners treat workers unjustly. We all have a moral obligation to be just and fair,” said Rev. Dr. Amos C. Brown, NAACP and Senior Pastor of Third Baptist Church, “the oldest black church west of the Mississippi.”
"This absolutely is a matter of public safety as well as justice. There are twice the number of private security officers as there are police officers working in America today. A good contract for San Francisco security officers -- with better training, wages you can raise a family on and affordable health care -- will not only improve public safety here in the city, but serve as a model for other U.S. cities,” said San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris.
International, National, Statewide Support
Bay Area security officers are receiving support from as far away as South Africa. Jackson Simon of the South African Transport and Allied Workers Union (SATAWU) said “Here in South Africa we know what it’s like to deal with the aftermath of apartheid conditions in our personal and professional lives. We extend our support to the security officers of SEIU Local 24/7 who are suffering similar injustices in their lives due to the corporate building owners continued use of racist policies and practices that are keeping mostly African American security officers in poverty.”
Members of the Congressional Black Caucus said, “We are outraged that the building owners of San Francisco remain unwilling to stop the unacceptable double standards among mostly African American security officers and Latino and white service workers in their buildings. For far too long, the Bay Area’s major real estate corporations have practiced racist policies that deny security officers the chance to make a decent living. We call on the Bay Area’s leading commercial landlords to honor the African-American community by supporting security officers’ struggle and by working together to negotiate a fair contract.”
California Legislative Black Caucus said, “Real estate corporations should commit to partner with their contractors to end the poverty conditions in the security industry and stop the double standards that now exist by providing family health care and wages you can raise a family on. Real estate corporations should commit to turn these dead-end security jobs into good jobs for tens of thousands of predominately African American workers who comprise the security industry workforce. Real estate corporations should agree to use only responsible security contractors who compete on the quality of their service while honoring market-wide agreements that set standards for workers and public safety.”
National Implications
Nationally, private security is one of the top ten fastest growing industries and is dominated by African American workers. The contract that is being negotiated right now here in San Francisco will be a model for other cities including Los Angeles, Seattle, Minneapolis, Washington, D.C., and Boston where security officers united in SEIU will negotiate contracts with many of the same security contractors that dominate the Bay Area market including Securitas, Allied Barton, ABM and Universal Protection Services.
“We need these jobs to be good jobs for mostly African American security officers who work full time and still are forced to make impossible decisions between paying the rent or providing health care for their families,” said Faith Culbreath, President of SEIU Local 2006.
Preparing for Another Possible Strike
Yesterday, the Alameda Central Labor Council’s 130 affiliated labor unions joined forces with the San Francisco Central Labor Council’s more than 150 labor unions to grant strike sanctions to security officers should they strike in the East Bay and San Francisco next week.
“We are prepared to honor picket lines and stand together with our brothers and sisters who work security to make sure they get the respect they deserve and a good contract,” said Willie Adams, ILWU International Secretary-Treasurer.
Monday, Oct. 8th marks 100 days that thousands of Bay Area security officers have been working under an expired contract. Should contract negotiations not conclude with a fair contract on Friday, Oct. 5, more than 200,000 Bay Area union members are prepared to stand with security officers and honor picket lines throughout the East Bay and San Francisco.
The Stand for Security Coalition includes A. Philip Randolph Institute; Coalition of Black Trade Unionists; Martin Luther King Legacy Association; National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP); Rev. Jesse Jackson, Rainbow/PUSH Coalition; Rev. James Lawson, Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC); U.S. House of Representatives Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton; Rep. Maxine Waters; Rep. Diane Watson; Rep. Barbara Lee and more.