The union’s campaign to raise security industry standards has lead to higher wages, more benefits and professional training for over 8,000 security officers in New York City.
[Labor News]
Months of negotiations with national security contractors AlliedBarton and FJC have culminated with 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.
“For too long, private security officers were left behind in low-wage, dead-end jobs,” said Mike Fishman, President of 32BJ. “The contracts we standards and win respect for private security officers, not just in New York, but in all cities.”
AlliedBarton 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 Borough Hall. FJC employs 1,820 security officers who protect sites in the City’s Human Resources Administration agency and Department of Homeless Services.
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.
“Our greatest needs were family health care, job security and annual wage increases,” said Enoch Edmond, an AlliedBarton officer working in Manhattan. “This contract gives us that and more.”
For six months, the union has negotiated on behalf of security officers protecting City buildings and facilities in all five boroughs. These City-contracted workers now join thousands of other 32BJ members who have won contracts improving security standards in the private sector.
“This is an inspiring victory for thousands of security officers, their families and communities,” said Reverend Johnny Ray Youngblood of Mt. Pisgah Baptist Church in Brooklyn. “These workers have shown that by uniting together in a union they can win the living wages and health care they deserve.”
“The best outcome for workers, employers and the public is achieved when labor and management work together,” said Fishman. “AlliedBarton and FJC should be commended for working with 32BJ to professionalize the security industry so officers receive the pay they need to make ends meet and the training they need to provide first-rate security at city buildings.”
With more than 110,000 members in eight states and Washington D.C., including 70,000 members in New York, 32BJ is the largest property service union in the country.
The union’s campaign to raise security industry standards has lead to higher wages, more benefits and professional training for over 8,000 security officers in New York City.
Some 32BJ Milestones
[] What began 5 years ago as a 32BJ campaign with 1,000 security officers in NYC has grown into a city-wide movement for higher standard for thousands of officers in NYC as well as Washington D.C. and Philadelphia.
[] 32BJ reached an agreement with New York building owners on a contract for 1,500 security officers in commercial office buildings that provides officers with annual pay raises, employer-paid health care and other benefits – including training which gives them the tools to do their job better and a way to get ahead in their careers. To date, more than 600 security officers have graduated from the NY Safe and Secure training program which provides them with 40 hours of the latest state of the art security training.
[] As a result of the union’s industry-wide campaign, security standards have been raised or maintained at prominent New York City buildings and tourist locations, such as the Rockefeller Center, Lincoln Center, the Met Life Building and Madison Square Garden.
“The city, as well as the city’s hotels and other public locations, need to get their standards up so that we can keep our city safe and secure and do right by these workers whose job it is to keep us safe,” added Fishman, the union leader. “If we don’t give them the tools to do their job, we don’t just undercut them, we put the city and all people at risk.”
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