Inter-Con security officers speak out from SEIU on Vimeo
InterCon Security Officers at KaiserWorkers With No Healthcare Protecting Kaiser Facilities
Many Inter-Con Security Officers Report They Don’t Have Healthcare, 41% Surveyed Say Can’t Afford Family Health Insurance Plan
OAKLAND—In the heart of California’s leading healthcare provider, Kaiser Permanente, an increasing number of security officers report they either don’t have health insurance or can’t afford the plan for their families.
Kaiser contractor Inter-Con Security is supposed to provide all 1,500 officers who protect Kaiser patients and employees with individual healthcare after the first 90 days of employment. But an increasing number of workers report that Inter-Con is not following through with promises to workers.
“I have three kids and I’ve been working for Inter-Con at Kaiser for almost two years. I usually work 40 hours a week, but Inter-Con has me classified as ‘on-call,’ so I can’t get health insurance for myself or my kids through my job,” said Renee Meyers, a security officer in Santa Rosa.
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Inter-Con Security Officers to Launch Strikes at Kaiser Hospitals Across California, Defend Civil Rights
Officers Issue 10-Day Notice of Unfair Labor Practice Strike
Security officers at Kaiser Permanente hospitals are ramping up their fight against employer Inter-Con, issuing a 10-day notice of an unfair labor practice strike in California to defend their civil rights. Inter-Con workers held the first-ever strike by hospital security officers last month in response to Inter-Con threatening, intimidating, and spying on workers who were trying to form a union for better conditions.
"We wanted a union for better pay and benefits—just like other workers inside Kaiser. But instead we’ve got Inter-Con violating our civil rights. We go to work every day to protect these patients and employees, but we have no protections ourselves,” said Warren Chauvin, Fremont.
LATEST NEWS: InterCon files charges to try and stop strike »
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Justice for InterCon Security Officers at Kaiser
More than 1500 workers in year three of struggle to form a union with SEIU
Since November 2005, security officers at Kaiser Permanente have been working to improve security and working conditions by forming a union with SEIU.
They are possibly the only group—direct employees or subcontracted workers—at Kaiser who are being denied the right to form a union and left out of the Kaiser’s historic Labor Management Partnership.
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SEIU Leaders Appeal Directly to Kaiser
Unlike the Kaiser employees they protect, Inter-Con security officers work for poverty pay and without affordable family healthcare. Many Inter-Con employees make less than $9.00 per hour.
Despite working inside your hospitals and healthcare facilities, none of them have paid sick days. Read the full letter from Faith Culbreath, president of SEIU SOULA and Emily Health, Secretary-Treasurer of SEIU 24/7 to Kaiser CEO George Halvorson.
Inter-Con Officers at Kaiser Speak Out for Justice
“ We've been struggling with Inter-Con for more than two years now. Instead of honoring the wishes of its employees, Inter-Con responded by unlawfully intimidating and coercing its officers. I work the graveyard shift from 12:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. A nurse I work with was recently shocked to discover that I don't receive differential pay for my late-night hours.”
—Rochelle Duran, Kaiser Fremont Medical Center
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Striking Security Officers File Federal Charges Against InterCon
Inter-Con Managers at Kaiser Healthcare Facilities Caught Spying On, Threatening, Interrogating, Intimidating Workers
Oakland, Calif. – Security officers employed by Inter-Con to protect Kaiser Permanente patients and staff across California today filed Federal charges with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) against their employer for spying on, threatening, interrogating and intimidating workers on the job. As officers finish out a week of protests and actions, and prepare for a one-day strike on Friday, the civil rights violations and unfair labor practices committed by Inter-Con management are intensifying.
Just yesterday afternoon, in Hayward, workers braved the stares of Inter-Con management representatives who had come from as far away as Fairfield and Pasadena. Management continued to break the law by photographing picketing workers. Still, security officers stood up for themselves and for the Kaiser staff and patients they protect.
“We needed to come out here because we’ve been struggling for over two years for a voice on the job. Inter-Con should let us make up our own minds about forming a union instead of scaring people. They’re pulling us aside to ask us who is going to picket or strike, who’s a union supporter. They’re even trying to call us in for an extra day of work on Friday, but we’re striking,” said Angelito Morales, who has been with Inter-Con for 10 years at Kaiser Union City Medical Center, near the Hayward facility.
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