San Francisco security officers terminate for now their unfair labor practice strike

SAN FRANCISCO - Contract negotiations for more than 4,000 Bay Area security officers resumed today with the security contractors committing to continue talks tomorrow and Friday. Security officers, on strike since Monday morning in protest of their employers' use of intimidation, harassment, and other unfair labor practices, made the decision to terminate for now their strike as a gesture of good faith and a nod to the progress made today at the bargaining table.

Security officers' decision to terminate for now their unfair labor practice strike against Securitas, Universal Protection Services and ABM means security officers from more than twenty commercial office buildings in and around the Financial District of San Francisco will return to their posts Thursday morning.

"This week, security officers showed that by standing together we can be heard-we can return to work tomorrow with our heads head high,"said Regina Roberts, a security officer with Securitas at One Front Street and mother of two. "We know it's not a good future for anybody in San Francisco to have people working hard and unable to support our families."Roberts, born and raised in San Francisco, raised her own two children here in the city as well but unaffordable housing prices have driven her out of the city to live in Richmond. Despite protecting property owned by the world's second-largest investment banking firm, Morgan Stanley, and fast-approaching retirement age, Roberts cannot afford to stop working on her current pay of less than $24,000 a year.

The decision to call off the strike and the movement towards productive contract talks comes in the midst of a week of action that garnered substantial local and national support for security officers' efforts to win a fair contract with access to quality, affordable health care.

Earlier today, a coalition of clergy, community and elected leaders-including the entire California Legislative Black Caucus, Rev. Jesse Jackson, NAACP and others-called the Stand for Security Coalition, sent letters to the city's real estate leaders urging them to make sure security work is a good job with wages you can raise a family on and access to affordable health care. Mayor Newsom, on Monday, urged building owners to take a "greater role in fostering a quick resolutionthat reflects the need for economic vibrancy and public safety in the Financial District."The San Francisco Board of Supervisors, on Tuesday, issued a second unanimous resolution calling on security contractors and building owners to "stop the double standards that are keeping security officers in poverty."

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