Lots of noise, little participation in Detroit security guard strike

A planned walkout and strike Thursday by private nonunion security guards at Bedrock-owned buildings in downtown Detroit drew loud support from the streets, but little participation from the security workers.

Most security guards stayed on the job and worked their regular shifts, according to their employer, Atlanta-based SecurAmerica, which is the primary security contractor in downtown for businessman Dan Gilbert's Bedrock real estate firm.

SecurAmerica says it employs 340 security guards for nearly 100 downtown Detroit properties, and only 16 of them skipped work to join the strike Thursday. An additional five guards who weren't scheduled to work gave the company strike notices, according to a spokesman.

The one-day strike was announced by Service Employees International Union Local 1, which wants to organize the security guards and help them get $15 hourly wages. 

The guards are currently paid between $11 to $13 per hour, according to SEIU, necessitating many of them to work second jobs to earn a decent living.

A boisterous crowd of about 150 took part in an SEIU-organized protest rally in support of the security guards.

The midday rally along Woodward, one block from the Coleman A. Young Municipal Center, included many unionized Detroit janitors with SEIU Local 1 who last July won a three-year contract with $15 per-hour wages negotiated with several janitorial companies.

Janitor Markita Blanchard said she is determined to prove that if they can win a $15 wage, so can downtown security workers.

“Last year, we had a fight for my contract, which led us to a path to 15,” Blanchard said. "So today I speak up in support of security guards because they deserve a chance to get a path to 15 as well. We’re all equal workers here in the city of Detroit.”

Only two security guards spoke at the rally. An SEIU Local 1 official said that many of the guards are keeping a low profile for fear of possible retaliation from SecurAmerica.

SEIU called the planned walkout an unfair labor practices strike, which under federal labor law would prohibit an employer from firing or permanently replacing the workers who take part. Labor law gives some protections to nonunion employees who protest work issues.

It is unclear whether the union organization effort will be successful. On Thursday morning, security guards at several Bedrock buildings said  that they and most of their colleagues came to work and didn't take part in the strike.

"We are here and we are working," one guard said.

"I don't think they got the numbers," said another SecurAmerica guard who wouldn't give his name, referring to participation in the planned walkout. 

Another guard, who also declined to give her name for fear of inflaming workplace tensions, said that she and many other guards in her building are in their 20s and taking college classes, and do not consider their security guard jobs as long-term careers.

That is why she said she did not walk off the job Thursday.

"It's not something important to me because I'm just a student," said the guard, who works in the One Woodward Avenue building.

Security guard Darian Stevens, 22, of Warren was among those who did skip work to join the strike.

Stevens said that even though his hourly wage did jump from $10.50 to $12 last summer once SecurAmerica replaced Securitas as Bedrock's primary security contractor in downtown, he and his colleagues are still struggling.

Stevens, who usually takes the bus to Detroit for work as an unarmed desk security officer, said his current wage is $12.50 per hour. Armed guards are paid higher wages, he said.

"Trying to live off of just my income is very difficult," he said. “I feel that doing the job we do, putting ourselves at the risks that we do, we deserve more than we’re getting.”

ContactJC Reindl: 313-222-6631 or jcreindl@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @jcreindl. Read more on business and sign up for our business newsletter.