Guards Seek Dialgue With Timothy Rub at Philadelphia Museum of Art

A video being premiered tomorrow at 6:30 pm at Media Mobilizing Project, 4205 Chestnut St., is a direct message to Timothy Rub, the incoming director of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. It also addresses the national debate about the Employee Free Choice Act.

The video entitled, “Welcoming Change: A Message To Timothy Rub” features the voice of four security guards who are a part of a campaign to win work-place reforms at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

The director of Welcoming Change, David Randle says of the interviews that were filmed in parts of South West, North and West Philadelphia, “They are stories of hope. I was impressed by that even thought they earn such low wages.”

David Randle made his film as a member of the Media Mobilizing Project a community group that makes films about community activism.

Worker and activist Donald Lindsay talks about what we would like to say to the incoming director when he says, “we would get to talking about what his goals are and what our goals are.”

Welcoming Change also has its sad moments. Moments that remind the viewer that poverty exists even among the opulence of the museum.

“It’s a sin in this country, that you work 40 hours a week and can never get your head above water. You should be able to pay your bills…without borrowing from Peter to pay Paul.” Says Juanita Love in one of the videos sadder moments.

The security guards are trying to improve their wages from the current $10.03 per hour (or less for non-AlliedBarton guards) to $13.48 per hour.

The video ends with a call to support the guards at the museum and the Employee Free Choice Act, a piece of legislation that would allow these guards at the museum to automatically be recognized as a union after a majority of workers had signed up for that option.

The documentary Welcoming Change will be screened at the Media Mobilizing Project office, 4205 Chestnut St on August 26 at 6:30 pm or can be watched online at www.phillyjwj.org starting August 26 at 9:00 am.

Badges, Budgets and Betrayals II: The Pinkertons Vs Labor

This video covers the early years of the American labor movement and the notorious Pinkertons. The Pinkertons were private security guards often used to infiltrate, spy on, internally disrupt and even violently bust labor unions and strikes.

SECURITY GUARDS WELCOME CHANGE AT THE PHILADELPHIA MUSEUM OF ART

13 Minute Film Tells Timothy Rub Message From Guards

Welcoming Change Premier
August 26, 2009, 6:30 pm
Media Mobilizing Project
4205 Chestnut Ave



https://secure.ga3.org/08/PhillyDonate

The security officers at the Philadelphia Museum of Art have been holding out hope for improved working conditions for a long time. Thus far, they have they tried to communicate via the standard methods of written letters and phone calls, yet their requests remain unanswered. Finding themselves without much more recourse, they decided to translate their message into a language sympathetic to the ears of the museum leaders: art.

The security guards have come together to create a thirteen minute video addressed to Timothy Rub, the incoming Director of the Philadelphia Museum of Art (PMA), in the hopes that their voices, in this way, will finally break the silence.

On August 26, the film entitled "Welcoming Change: A Message To Timothy Rub," directed by David Stuart Randle from local media organization Media Mobilizing Project, will be released on the internet and will premier on screen at 4205 Chestnut St at 6:30 pm. The film will also be mailed to 100 local churches.

The objective of releasing this film is to prompt a network of PMA members and Philadelphia taxpayers to contact Mr. Rub and express their support for the guards' ambition to be recognized as a union. The guards have started their own independent labor union, the Philadelphia Security Officers Union (PSOU), and have succeeded in signing up a majority of their coworkers on union recognition cards.

Their campaign has become part of the national dialogue in support of the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) that is currently being debated by Congress. At present, if a majority of workers sign union recognition cards, it is still the employers' decision whether or not to recognize the workers' union. Under EFCA, if a majority of the workers have signed union recognition cards, it would be their choice to hold an election regarding the formation of a union.

"We hope that Mr. Rub will recognize our union and work with us to improve the low-wages that we earn by granting us the sustainable wages we deserve," says Jennifer Collazo, a security guard and union organizer at the PMA.

The guards decided to form PSOU after reaching out to several labor unions to no avail. Unions are restricted by a little-known provision in the National Labor Relations Act, Section 9 (b) 3, which bars unions that organize workers other than security guards from calling for an election supervised by the National Labor Relations Board.

Union representatives point to a recent history of unfair labor practices by their employer, AlliedBarton, in an attempt to show why they need the contract holder (i.e. the PMA) to demand that no illegal activity take place during their organizing drive. They also want their employer to recognize the PSOU as the collective bargaining unit at their current majority.

The security guards earn between $15,000 and $20,000 per year. This figure is not only below the Federal Poverty Guidelines for a family of four ($22,050), it is possibly in violation of the city-mandated Prevailing Wage, a wage established for service workers employed at "city-related" properties.

"The law states that any institution that receives more than $100,000 from the city is bound by this law and has to pay a family-sustaining wage of $13.48 per hour for guards. The Museum received $4.92 million from the City of Philadelphia in 2008. They also are on city land and in a city building worth $171 million," says Fabricio M. Rodriguez, the Executive Director of Philadelphia Jobs with Justice, a local community group that has been working with the guards since 2005.

The film "Welcoming Change" will premier to the public at the headquarters of the Media Mobilizing Project, at 4205 Chestnut St. at 6:30 pm on Wednesday, August 26, 2009. The film will be followed by a roundtable discussion with security officers from the museum.

PHILADELPHIA MUSEUM BECOMING KNOWN FOR SOMETHING BESIDES ART: National Debate About Union Organizing Turns Philadelphia

PHILADELPHIA MUSEUM BECOMING KNOWN FOR SOMETHING BESIDES ART: National Debate About Union Organizing Turns Philadelphia

When the security officers at the Philadelphia Museum of Art have rallied against a recent roll back of their $.25 per hour raise, they could have never guessed that there modest cause could become an example of in a nation-wide debate over the Employee Free Choice Act. That is just what happened after an article by Sarah Jaffe appeared this week on the web-site of The Nation Magazine.

The security guards began organizing in 2007 in hopes of joining a labor union with the help of local workers' rights group, Jobs with Justice. After they began their organizing drive the activists were soon surprised to find out that they had few options in the union world.

The Philadelphia Museum of Art is a recognizable icon even to those who have never set foot in the city. Immortalized in the movie Rocky, when a sweatsuit-clad Sylvester Stallone bounded up the stairs while training for his big fight, the museum became a symbol of the working-class tenacity that Philadelphians are known for.

On September 6, those steps will host a different kind of blue-collar battle: the museum security guards will be holding a rally in support of the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) and their right to form a union.


“Guards have special circumstances under the law. They are almost no unions that can organize security officers because Section 9 B 3 of the National Labor Relation Act” says Fabricio Rodriguez of Jobs with Justice.

As the article points out, this section of the National Labor Relations Act, the national law which governs how unions are formed, prevents security guards from join unions that have any other type of workers besides security guards through a Labor Board supervised election.

After meeting with many different unions, the security officers found no groups that could take them and no security guard only unions who were willing to help. Last year, they decided to try their hand at forming their own union. A group of security officers from the museum began signing up their co-workers on Philadelphia Security Officers Union sign-up cards. They have signed up a majority of the employees that work for the main security firm on the property, AlliedBarton. The workers now want majority sign-up union recognition. This is one provision that labor unions want included in the hotly debated Employee Free Choice Act that is expected to come up for a vote in Congress later this year.

“We knew that this would not be enough, especially if the company began using illegal tactics again.” says Thomas Robinson a long time activist and AllieBarton security guard. Thomas and four of his colleagues were illegally suspended in 2006 for organizing at the University of Pennsylvania. Three of the five workers were returned to their posts at the university after students protested their suspensions.

“It is hard enough if you have an established labor union supporting you. We simply want to exercise our rights, but we know that without labor lawyers to make sure that our rights aren’t violated, it will be very hard,” says Jennifer Collazo, a security guard who is one of the organizers at the museum.

The union says that that they will continue to try to improve benefits and wages, which only go as high as $18,000 for the average guard, even if winning a union against a big corporation seems out of reach. They hope that the arrival of the new director of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Timothy Rub, will prompt work place improvements.


“This is why we need to pass the Employee Free Choice Act. Labor law reform isn’t about protecting so-called “special interests” it’s about protecting you and your neighbors, normal working folks,” says Juanita Love, a security officer for another security company at the museum.

Badges, Budgets and Betrayals 1

The Philadelphia Officers and Workers Rising (POWR) campaign has been building a movement for family-sustaining wages since 2005.

It is a complex story involving SEIU, AFSCME, sub-contracting, Democratic mayors, 9-11 and the fight for the Employee Free Choice Act. If you want to see how the current system of labor law is slanted against the rights of workers and why we need real labor law reform, not just for union but for American workers in general, then this video series is for you!

During the next few weeks, the Philadelphia Security Officers Union will try, against all of the odds, to establish their independent union. This series will document that effort.

The History of Private Security and Uniona

Here's a reference from our campaigns past! About two years ago, we were contacted by Allied International Union. They sounded interested in affiliating the Philadelphia Security Officers Union and even came down to Philly and had a meeting with me and a labor lawyer friend of mine from Freedman and Lorry.

They were sternly (pun-ishable!) opposed to SEIU and were battling them in court in New York state over some shop raids. In fact, they were beating them. But, suddenly, as we were about to make an agreement with them, they quit returning our calls. I understand that Allied International Union was purchased by SEIU.

Anyway, here is a reference to Allied's less than noble past...

Video Journal July 30