Nearly 40,000 Wackenhut officers guard public and private facilities including Philadelphia\'s Independence National Historical Park, Chicago’s Columbia College, Miami-Dade\'s tri-county rail system, federal nuclear materials sites and Bank of America sites nationwide.
Historically, the corporation has been very anti-union and its employees frequently used as strikebreakers. That could change if workers are successful in organizing with the Service Employees International Union, which represents 25,000 private security officers employed by several large security contractors across the United States.
Often, private security officers patrol the same areas as police – but lack the equipment, safety training and compensation afforded to other law enforcement workers.
Miami-Dade Metro Rail officer Alberto Zerpa said: "When I was an MP in Afghanistan, safety was a priority. That\'s how I\'d like to work now, but Wackenhut makes that very difficult. That’s why I\'m here today."
Hardy James Hollinhead, III, also a Miami-Dade rail officer said: "The equipment we use is not adequate. The batteries for our radios are old and the ammunition is substandard. Plus, we are short-handed. If we can\'t do our job adequately, we can\'t protect the people of Miami."
Independence National Historic Park Custom Protection Officer Charlie Wilson explained: "I am a diabetic and we receive no healthcare benefits. When we get sick we often work anyway, because we can\'t afford to lose our jobs or to go without pay."
In the Twin Cities, "a super-majority of workers at our worksite signed union authorization cards to join SEIU," said Richard Dieterle. "When it became necessary for one of us at the Wells Fargo site to present our vote cards to the Wackenhut management, no one stepped forward for fear of the consequences. After fighting for American values in Vietnam, I shouldn\'t expect to be fired for speaking up on behalf of myself and my co-workers. But I did speak up and it was not long afterward that I was fired by Wackenhut, without any warning or discussion."
The National Labor Relations Board has scheduled a July hearing for an Unfair Labor Practice Charge for Deiterle.
At their announcement, the workers were joined by U.S. Representatives Chaka Fattah and Patrick Murphy, both Democrats from Pennsyvlania. Wackenhut has hundreds of millions of dollars in federal contracts, the congressmen said.
"Congress has to do more on this," said Fattah. "We have to be sure that when companies have federal contracts, they treat their workers fairly."
Murphy, a member of the House Armed Services Committee, said, "We have veterans here who fought in Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan. They are asking for rights we all deserve, including the right to organize."
The U.S. workers will soon meet with their counterparts in Europe, all of whom are employed by the giant, London-based G4S. Wackenhut is a wholly-owned subsidiary of G4S, which bills itself as "the world\'s leading international security solutions group." The G4S workers sent a letter of support for the U.S. organizing effort.
Recently, security officers at a number of firms in the Twin Cities concluded a successful contract campaign that garnered increases in wages and health care and better safety training and equipment. Read more at https://www.workdayminnesota.org/index.php?article_1_185
For more information
Visit www.eyeonwackenhut.org
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Nearly 40,000 Wackenhut officers guard public and private facilities including Philadelphia\’s Independence National Historical Park, Chicago’s Columbia College, Miami-Dade\’s tri-county rail system, federal nuclear materials sites and Bank of America sites nationwide.
Historically, the corporation has been very anti-union and its employees frequently used as strikebreakers. That could change if workers are successful in organizing with the Service Employees International Union, which represents 25,000 private security officers employed by several large security contractors across the United States.
Often, private security officers patrol the same areas as police – but lack the equipment, safety training and compensation afforded to other law enforcement workers.
Miami-Dade Metro Rail officer Alberto Zerpa said: "When I was an MP in Afghanistan, safety was a priority. That\’s how I\’d like to work now, but Wackenhut makes that very difficult. That’s why I\’m here today."
Hardy James Hollinhead, III, also a Miami-Dade rail officer said: "The equipment we use is not adequate. The batteries for our radios are old and the ammunition is substandard. Plus, we are short-handed. If we can\’t do our job adequately, we can\’t protect the people of Miami."
Independence National Historic Park Custom Protection Officer Charlie Wilson explained: "I am a diabetic and we receive no healthcare benefits. When we get sick we often work anyway, because we can\’t afford to lose our jobs or to go without pay."
In the Twin Cities, "a super-majority of workers at our worksite signed union authorization cards to join SEIU," said Richard Dieterle. "When it became necessary for one of us at the Wells Fargo site to present our vote cards to the Wackenhut management, no one stepped forward for fear of the consequences. After fighting for American values in Vietnam, I shouldn\’t expect to be fired for speaking up on behalf of myself and my co-workers. But I did speak up and it was not long afterward that I was fired by Wackenhut, without any warning or discussion."
The National Labor Relations Board has scheduled a July hearing for an Unfair Labor Practice Charge for Deiterle.
At their announcement, the workers were joined by U.S. Representatives Chaka Fattah and Patrick Murphy, both Democrats from Pennsyvlania. Wackenhut has hundreds of millions of dollars in federal contracts, the congressmen said.
"Congress has to do more on this," said Fattah. "We have to be sure that when companies have federal contracts, they treat their workers fairly."
Murphy, a member of the House Armed Services Committee, said, "We have veterans here who fought in Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan. They are asking for rights we all deserve, including the right to organize."
The U.S. workers will soon meet with their counterparts in Europe, all of whom are employed by the giant, London-based G4S. Wackenhut is a wholly-owned subsidiary of G4S, which bills itself as "the world\’s leading international security solutions group." The G4S workers sent a letter of support for the U.S. organizing effort.
Recently, security officers at a number of firms in the Twin Cities concluded a successful contract campaign that garnered increases in wages and health care and better safety training and equipment. Read more at https://www.workdayminnesota.org/index.php?article_1_185
For more information
Visit www.eyeonwackenhut.org