The city's largest janitors' union announced yesterday that it had won support from 1,100 security guards with Burns Security, its first big victory in its effort to unionize more than 10,000 guards in New York City.þþThe union, Local 32BJ of the Service Employees International Union, said it would soon seek to negotiate better wages and benefits for the Burns guards, who work at City University campuses, Yeshiva University, AT&T and Pfizer.þþÿIt will be great to have a union that fights for us,ÿ said Shelia Frazier, who earns $10.50 an hour after four years as a Burns guard at Einstein Medical College in the Bronx. ÿA lot of guards only make $8 an hour. How is anyone supposed to live in New York City on that?ÿ þþLocal 32BJ's parent union is trying to organize more than 75,000 security guards nationwide and has pressured security companies not to undertake campaigns to block unionization. Facing intense union pressures, Burns's parent, Securitas, agreed not to fight the service employee's unionization drives in New York and across the country. þþÿWe feel fine about it,ÿ said James McNulty, executive vice president with Securitas Security Services. ÿIt's no secret to anybody that 32BJ over the last year or 18 months has launched a concerted effort to organize security officers in Manhattan, and this is a step in that direction.ÿþþThe Burns guards had been represented by Local 2 of the International Union of Police. But an independent arbitrator found that a majority of the Burns guards had signed cards saying they wanted to switch to Local 32BJ.þþLocal 32BJ represents more than 50,000 doormen, janitors, elevator operators and other building workers in New York City. Its effort to unionize security guards in Manhattan office towers has encountered bigger problems than it expected as several companies have resisted.þþÿThe addition of Burns, which is a major player in security in New York, should definitely help our efforts,ÿ said Kevin Doyle, executive vice president at Local 32BJ.þþObserving that many guards are black or Hispanic, the service employees have said the drive is a civil rights effort to lift minority workers out of poverty. In addition, Local 32BJ says that unionization will lead to better training and that by raising wages it will reduce the high turnover among guards. þþBut officials of the Real Estate Board of New York, an association of owners of many office towers, said that guards in Manhattan office buildings have adequate training as well as good wages and benefits.þþ
Source: NY Times
