PHILADELPHIA SECURITY OFFICERS UNION WINS ELECTION

Workers Regain Collective Bargaining Rights After 17 Years

The two year effort to form an independent labor union for the AlliedBarton security guards at the world famous Philadelphia Museum of Art finally resulted in a victory for the union this weekend. The formerly unionized guards lost their union in 1992 when the jobs were privatized by then Mayor Ed Rendell.

“It is hard for any group of workers to join a union,” says Cecelia Lynch, museum guard and union activist.

“But we knew that it was the only hope that we had to fix the problems that we faced on the job.” Further states Lynch.

It is rare and difficult for a group of workers to form their own union.

The newly formed Philadelphia Security Officers Union (PSOU) was created by guards from around the city and by the community organization Jobs with Justice over a two year period.

“We hope that AlliedBarton will now work with us to agree on a fair contract in a reasonable amount of time.” Says Fabricio Rodriguez, Executive Director of Jobs with Justice.

The union provides some hope to a growing segment of Philadelphia’s workforce, private security guards, which currently lack union representation and have few opportunities to join a union. There are an estimated 10,000 private security guard in the Philadelphia region.

Security guards are prevented from joining most labor unions due to the Section 9 (B) 3 of the National Labor Relations Act.

This clause of the National Labor Relations Act states that security guards must join “security guard only unions,” of which there are few.


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