In a groundbreaking victory in their second-ever contract, Security Officer members of SEIU Local 26 in Minneapolis and Saint Paul won access to affordable health insurance, higher wages, improved training and equipment, and sick leave in a tentative contract agreement reached late last night with their employers.

“I have four kids without health insurance, so this contract will make all the difference for my family,” said Howard Worley, a security officer at Town Square in Saint Paul and a member of the union bargaining committee. “Now we need to keep it going and win affordable health care for everyone who stood with us and for all working families in Minnesota.”

The five-year agreement, which will be put to a ratification vote on Saturday with a recommendation by the bargaining team for approval, includes the following improvements:

• Affordable health care for full-time security officers for the first time ever.

• Major wage increases of 25% - 32%. Wages will increase by at least 50 cents in each year, with some officers seeing increases of up to $3.20 over the course of the contract.
• A process for building stronger training and equipment standards to improve public safety in Minneapolis and Saint Paul. Officers at Block E in downtown Minneapolis have already been fitted for bullet-proof vests as a result of heightened public awareness due to security officers’ efforts.
• Sick days that will allow full-time security officers to access the health care they need to stay healthy at work.

The tentative bargaining agreement with security contractors ABM, Allied Barton, American, Securitas, and Viking comes after officers held a one-day strike in February highlighting the need for affordable health care for all Minnesotans.

“This victory for security officers is a major step forward in restoring Minnesota’s middle class,” said Javier Morillo, president of SEIU Local 26. “Now, working families in the Twin Cities are prepared to keep up the fight to show what can and should be done to ensure everyone in our state has access to quality, affordable health care.”

In an historic act of non-violent civil disobedience, nine Twin Cities security officers were among those arrested earlier today while calling attention to the need for the city’s private security force to have access to quality affordable health care. The protest marks the first time in the nation’s history that private security officers, who were acting to promote public safety by ensuring good jobs with health care for the more than 800 security officers who protect the Twin Cities’ largest downtown buildings, have taken the extraordinary measure of principled non-compliance with the law.

“This is about protecting working families and protecting people who live, work, and play in our city’s downtown,” says Harrison Bullard, 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 non-violent protest in the lobby of the IDS Center, Minneapolis’ tallest building, followed a community forum at nearby Gethsemane Church to which security officers invited the CEOs of Minneapolis-based US Bancorp and Ameriprise to explain to parents and community leaders their refusal to support health care for downtown security officers and their families.

Prompted by the failure of security contractors to address affordable health insurance, security officers held a strike for the first time ever in the Twin Cities on Monday, February 25, on the three largest security contractors in the area – Securitas, American, and ABM.

From the beginning, this has been about building safer communities, added Mike Kipka, a security officer at Block E in Minneapolis. Whether it's affordable family health insurance or taking steps to improve training and reduce turnover in our industry, we need to do what's best not only for ourselves but for everyone in the Twin Cities.

The one-day strike featured numerous rallies with hundreds of striking officers, elected leaders, and community allies such as U.S. Senate candidate Al Franken, State Representative Paul Thissen, St. Paul City Councilman Dave Thune, and Rev. Bruce Arnevik.

Since day one, we have been committed to settling a contract that provides us with affordable health care for ourselves and our families in a responsible manner, said James Matias, a security officer for American Security in Saint Paul. Unfortunately, the security companies would rather leave our health at risk than work together for solutions.

Further Coverage:
Minnesota Public Radio
Finance & Commerce
KARE-11 TV
St. Paul Pioneer Press

On Saturday, February 9, hundreds of security officers and community allies gathered for security officers’ strike authorization vote, the first of its kind in the Twin Cities. Security Officers voted overwhelmingly to authorize our bargaining committee to call a strike, if necessary. The affirmative vote means security officers could walk off the job at any time in protest of unfair labor practices by the security companies, who have cancelled a bargaining date and silenced officers for bringing safety concerns forward.

Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak and Congressman Keith Ellison joined leaders from religious organizations Worker Interfaith Network and ISAIAH; labor leaders from Teamsters Local 120 and other unions; and community groups to support security officers in their decision.

Watch Mayor Rybak's speech on YouTube:

Twin Cities Security Officers protect properties owned and managed by some of the highest-profile business leaders in the Twin Cities, including US Bank and United Properties/NorthMarq. Despite protecting these multi-million dollar properties, security officers often struggle to get by. They make as little as $10.00 per hour and health insurance premiums can be as high as $835 per month.

Watch Security Officer Howard Worley address the crowd with his thoughts about what we're fighting for:

Security Officers are standing up for affordable family health insurance and better training standards to make our communities safer.

It’s time for the security companies to step up and address these community interests.

News Coverage of Our Strike Authorization Vote:
St. Paul Pioneer Press
Minneapolis Star Tribune
KSTP TV
Workday Minnesota

On Saturday, November 10th, over 130 Security Officers, Window Cleaners, and community supporters packed into a union meeting to kick off our 2007 Contract Campaign. The Security Officers and Window Cleaners of our union, SEIU Local 26, elected their bargaining teams and voted unanimously to ratify their contract goals for upcoming negotiations.

Our security officers' bargaining team will represent officers from contractors in both Minneapolis / St. Paul and the suburbs, including: ABM, Allied Barton, American, Avalon, Securitas, and Viking. The window cleaners' bargaining team will represent cleaners from contractors Columbia, Marsden, and MSI. We come to the bargaining table in a spirit of collaborative problem-solving to seek win-win solutions to workplace issues. As always, providing quality service is a paramount concern to all parties.

Our contract goals reflect national standards for all property service workers to raise standards in our industry. Twin Cities officers now join thousands of security officers in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle, Chicago and Washington, DC in bargaining for these standards across the country, and janitors here in the Twin Cities made significant progress towards them last year. They include:

·         Affordable Healthcare for Ourselves and Our Families
·         Income that Can Support our Families
·         Improved Training and Safety

Achieving these goals will be a win-win result for all involved by helping to reduce turnover and increase the quality of service as a result, leading to greater tenant satisfaction.

On Monday, October 1st, security officers filed a formal complaint with the Employment Equal Opportunity Commission (EEOC) alleging that Hannon Security engages in racial discrimination in their hiring practices, job placement, and training.

In the past several months, white applicants with no security experience have been hired over applicants of color with significant security experience. In other cases, less qualified white applicants have been assigned to higher paying accounts and/or preferential shifts.

Officers of color with over a decade of experience at Hannon report that they regularly train new white officers with little or no security experience to work in higher paying accounts.

This charge follows a pattern of behavior at Hannon Security that goes back several years. A 2003 lawsuit alleged that officers of color were regularly transferred or moved from certain buildings on days when the owners of those buildings had meetings.

Nearly 60% of another local security company’s officers are minorities, according to their officers, and another security company employs almost 100 Somali officers locally.

At our membership meeting on Saturday, May 12, security officers, window cleaners, and janitors ratified and launched a new organizing campaign for Local 26.

For the first time in our history, we are organizing in every part of our union at the same time to unite our strength. No longer can we afford to think of our union as separate pieces: janitors, security officers, and window cleraners. We all work in the same industry of Property Services.

One Industry. One Union.
Earlier this year, our victory with the janitors’ contract showed the building owners of Minneapolis and St. Paul that we are serious about raising standards in our industry for affordable family health insurance and livable wages.

But we only addressed one part of the industry: contract janitorial cleaning. The security officers who guard the same buildings and the window cleaners who clean their windows still lack the affordable health insurance that we just won with our new janitors contract.

If the building owners, managers, and contractors thought they had a fight on their hands last year, they haven’t seen anything yet!

On June 28, security officers Harrison Bullard, Gerry Messler, John Graham, Terry Dyer, and Fred Anthony from Local 26 met at a national summit in San Francisco and ratified national contract barganing standards. This year, security officers around the country are preparing to bargain union contracts that impact as many as 50,000 officers. We have joined together to adopt national standards to ensure better jobs, stronger communities, and safer buildings, including:

•  Fair wages that support a family.
•  Access to quality, affordable healthcare like the janitors contract just won.
•  Improved training and career advancement opportunities, including higher pay grades and state licensure.
•  Paid time off for vacation, sickness and emergencies.
•  Retirement with dignity.
•  Other policies appropriate to the unique challenges faced by security officers.
•  Stronger seniority and protections against unfair removal from accounts.
•  A voice on the job, and basic rights like the right to join a union.