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Security Management
home page > Unit 10: Labor Relations
Topics:
History of private security's relationship to organized labor
Current union situation
Successful unions
Organizing strategies
Bargaining relationship
Security guards's representation rights under the NLRA
Collective bargaining
Strikes
Dispute resolution
Security in an organized labor setting
(based on. Ch. 10, Principles of Security Management)
Unions, under the NLRB Act,
are defined as "any organization of any kind where employees
participate, which exists for whole or in part in dealing with
employers involving grievances, labor disputes, pay, hours of
employment and working conditions."
History of private security's relationship
to organized labor
private security firms
particularly distrusted because management has frequently used
them in anti-union activities, including some particularly violent
strike-breaking efforts such as the Pinkertons' use in the Homestead
Strike against Carnegie Steel, the contract guards in the
Colorado
Coal Wars, Harry Bennett's violent "Battle
of the Overpass" against the UAW, etc.
Current union situation
In general, the labor
movement has been declining since its high of 34.7% of the labor
force in 1954 -- down
to 12.9% of the work force in 2003 in large part due to global
economy and loss of manufacturing jobs, free trade treaties such
as NAFTA, the shift in US to a service-based economy, passage
of federal work protections such as anti-discrimination and minimum
wage laws. Also, the public isn't as supportive, for example,
crossing picket lines.
They typically work to protect workers' collective rights -- not an individual worker's individual rights of an employee, and to limit employers' powers. Their power comes from:
- ability to exercise nonpolitical power, such as a strike against an employer
- achieving collective good through collective voice: represent workers' concerns to employers
- secure collective goods in exchange for ensuring workers' cooperation and productivity
- can purchase collective goods for its members by trading off lesser benefits, ie., a wage increase instead of a no-layoff clause
I believe the International Guards Union of America is the only one that only serves guards. Some guards are members of the SEIU.