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Penn security guards seek to unionize - again
They're shunning the national SEIU, which sold them out a few years back, in favor of a small, local union.
Penn security guards seek to unionize — again
The neon yellow-clad University of Pennsylvania security guards, who pedal around the University and adjacent neighborhoods, want to organize a union. Officers cite working conditions, wages, benefits and fair promotions as motivating factors. If these workers win their election — set to take place in early April — they will be the first anchor institution security guards to unionize in Philadelphia. (Both Penn and Drexel have low overall unionization rates, but even the guards at heavily organized Temple lack representation.)
Anyone who lives in the University City District, or the Baltimore Avenue corridor, will be familiar with outdoor “Penn Park” and “Penn Walk” guards who regularly patrol the area. The officers largely work night shifts, which run 5 p.m. to 1 a.m. or 1 a.m. to 9 a.m. Officers are either on bike patrol or stand at an appointed spot, where they observe the surrounding area, acting as a “security deterrent to any would be troublemakers, anyone planning on disturbing the neighborhood in any way,” says Garnet Grant, a “stand on” officer. The officers cannot make arrests, although they are equipped to contact the police.
The officers are attempting to join the Philadelphia Security Officers Union (PSOU), a small, local organization that just won its first collective bargaining agreement last year. According to a March 7 press release, 75 of the 100 guards have signed union recognition cards.
This is not the first time Penn guards have tried to organize. In the mid-2000's the 1.2 million-member Service Employee International Union (SEIU) attempted to organize Philadelphia’s security sector. But they ended up backing off after negotiating a deal with AlliedBarton, the security behemoth based in King of Prussia that employs 85 percent of Philadelphia security officers. The agreement allowed the union to organize officers in other cities as long as they left Philly alone. Activists and guards not affiliated with SEIU, angered by what they saw as a betrayal, went on to win paid sick days and a raise at Penn. Veterans of that fight later went on to form PSOU. (SEIU announced in 2011 that they intended to organize Philadelphia security guards again, including those at anchor institutions like Penn. According to one source that campaign is ongoing.)
Yesterday, the Penn officers went to the regional office of the National Labor Relations Board to dispute AlliedBarton’s contention that the guards are not an appropriate bargaining unit, a standard delaying tactic. (Requests for comment from the company have not been returned by press time.) The workers did not know of any other resistance to their efforts. “As far as management is concerned, they have not bothered with us,” Grant says. “Which is surprising.”
Today, the security guards are holding a rally on Penn Campus, outside the Van Pelt library at 1:30 p.m.
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