Just Work: 800 Down in Minnesota, 47 Million More to Go Nationwide

This week, my colleagues and I finally got a win. After months of negotiating, protesting, and standing up to the huge security companies in the Twin Cities -- ABM, Allied Barton, American, Viking, and my employer Securitas -- 800 of us security officers won a historic union contract with quality, affordable health care.

It wasn't an easy-won fight. But as most people know, quality health care coverage is more than worth fighting for -- it's essential.

I started working for Securitas over four years ago when I had to leave my building maintenance job because of health problems. You see, I was born with a bad heart. At age 50, I've already had three open heart surgeries, and I take nine medications a day just to keep everything running smoothly. Needless to say, health care is critical for me and at the time the Securitas job seemed to be a good fit.

After years trying different security sites and shifts, I settled into the 6:00 p.m. to 4:00 a.m. shift at a public housing complex in Minneapolis because it paid the most. I made $12.00 per hour, which is a decent wage when you're used to living so close to the poverty line. But I was also paying $160 a month for rising health care premiums that seemed to cover less and less of my medical needs. By April of every year, I'd be tapped out of my health care benefits and I'd be paying hundreds of dollars a month on meds I didn't have the money for.

What do you do when you're stuck like that? On the one hand, there's no money in the bank; but on the other hand, you're facing death if you don't take your medicine or go in for that critical monthly blood test.

You've probably heard the story before -- some of you may even have had the agonizing experience -- but it wasn't too long before I was over my head in health care debt. And it wasn't too much longer before I was losing my possession and filing for bankruptcy -- a headache that I'm still dealing with.

While my specific situation and the level of my health care debt are unusual, all my fellow security officers were feeling the same health care squeeze and falling dangerously below the poverty line. Before we worked out the contract, security officers with families were paying over $800 a month for shoddy family plans that failed to cover the basics. Our raises weren't keeping up with rising energy and health care costs, and we had no sick pay. We were all living with a nagging fear that if any one thing slipped, everything in our lives might just fall apart.

So we stood up for ourselves. We talked; we negotiated; we held rallies. And finally, in an historic act of non-violent civil disobedience, we marched to the Minneapolis IDS Center and refused to leave while we told the world that it was our right to have health care. Of course, there were some short-term casualties. Some of us -- including me -- were arrested for our efforts. In fact, when Securitas found out about my actions (which I had done off the clock) they suspended me without pay.

But in the end, it was all worth it. In the early hours of Wednesday morning, we signed a contract that will change our lives. The five-year contract:

* Decreases our monthly health care costs from $150 a month to $60 a month immediately and $20 in a few years,
* Offers family coverage for a much more affordable $260 per month,
* Increases our health care choices and coverage,
* Bumps our minimum wage up to $12.50 per hour over time and provides a minimum $.50 per hour raise every year,
* Provides sick pay for the first time ever; and
* Those of us who work in dangerous sites will have access to bullet proof vests and other protective gear to make us safer on the job.

This week, I can honestly say that I won one of the most important fights of my life. I'm full of excitement for what this means for my future and the future of my colleagues. But I also know that I won't win, in the end, if this victory stops at 800 Minnesota security officers.

To those of you in a similarly bad predicament at work, I say use whatever means you can to defend your rights. As a worker in America, you have the freedom of speech, the freedom to have fair wages, and the freedom to have fair treatment under the law. Do what you can to find a union or another worker advocacy group so that you have representation and your legal rights can be addressed.

Many of you know as well as I do: this fight for a decent job with affordable health care coverage is not a question of should; it's a question of how and when.

Darrell Siewert is a security officer for Securitas and a member of SEIU Local 26 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Darrell was a leader in the Local 26 security officers' struggle to sign a contract with security giants -- ABM, Allied Barton, American, Viking, and Securitas -- that would provide 800 private security officers affordable access to healthcare and fair wages. Through SEIU's "Stand for Security Campaign," Darrell and his colleagues join thousands of private security officers in cities from Boston to D.C. to Los Angeles in an historic effort to win affordable individual and family healthcare, wage increases, paid sick days, and increased training so that security officers have a chance to rise up the career ladder, earn enough to raise a family, and move into the middle class. When he's not fighting for justice on the job, Darrell is repairing and re-designing old clocks--a hobby that he looks forward to taking with him into retirement.

Just Work is a series presented by the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) to give a voice to working people to discuss their daily struggles to balance work, afford life and participate in a more just society. SEIU welcomes submissions to Just Work! Please send your story (800 words or less) to ali.jost[at]seiu.org.

About SEIU
The 1.9 million-member SEIU is the fastest-growing union in North America. SEIU members are winning better wages, health care, and more secure jobs for our communities, while uniting their strength with their counterparts around the world to help ensure that workers, not just corporations and CEOs, benefit from today's global economy.

Comments

[Dave81230]

Everyone has a right to healthcare, no problems there.

But the way that SEIU rallies itself around a just cause, such as healthcare, is laughable. Ask those 800 Security Officers in MN _when_ they get their healthcare... with SEIU, usually after 9 months. During those 9 months, the Officer is paying into the SEIU coffers, without any benefit. If the Officer leaves, they receive nothing back, the company receives nothing...SEIU keeps it all. Ask any security company out there what the average tenure is for an Officer making $10/hour...

Go to an SEIU office... note all the high price tag automobiles.

Then ask where the Officer's money is going.

[WASanford]

There are areas of endeavor where making a profit is appropriate. The provision of health care is NOT one of them!

[willo]

It's amazing how many people seem to resent other people getting health care coverage through collective bargaining. I guess when your on the bottom you don't like to see someone getting something you don't have, The very wealthy, and the very poor are the ones fighting hardest against people bargaining for health care benefit's.