FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE     Contact: Lynda Tran, (202) 907-1172; Gina Bowers, (310) 291-5711

***** MEDIA ADVISORY FOR TUESDAY, SEPT. 25 *****

SEIU security officers in cities nationwide plan delegations to Morgan Stanley offices to urge support for Bay Area security officers’ efforts

San Francisco – On the second day of the first-ever security officers’ strike in San Francisco, union security officers and other supporters in Los Angeles, Miami, Washington, D.C., and Seattle are planning delegations today to Morgan Stanley offices in their own cities. The national delegations will urge Morgan Stanley—one of the Bay Area’s largest and most powerful commercial building owners—to support security officers’ efforts to win good jobs with access to quality, affordable health care.

The delegations come in the wake of a statement released yesterday by San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom calling on the city’s commercial building owners to take a “greater role in fostering a quick resolution between the security guards and security guard companies…that reflects the need for public safety and economic vibrancy in our financial district.”

In San Francisco, security officers are continuing their strike in protest of their employers’ use of intimidation, harassment, and other unlawful practices. The strike—the first strike among private security officers in the history of the city—is in response to the companies’ violation of security officers’ rights during an ongoing labor dispute over industry standards.

SCHEDULE OF DAY 2 STRIKE EVENTS IN SAN FRANCISCO: Tuesday, September 25

7:00AM Security Officers’ Picket Lines Up

Launching Ground: One Front Street (plaza on Market between Front and First)

2:00PM Security Officers Head to City Hall to Address Board of Supervisors

1 Carlton B Goodlett Place

More than 4,000 San Francisco security officers have been working without a union contract for nearly three months. Despite protecting multi-billion dollar real estate properties throughout the Bay Area owned by economic powerhouses including investment banking giant Morgan Stanley, private security officers earn less than $24,000—fully $5 an hour less than janitors who provide services in the same facilities—and are not offered affordable health insurance. Although security officers are typically first responders to emergency situations in high-rise office buildings, low wages and lack of access to quality affordable health care are contributing to a turnover rate estimated by industry experts to be as high as 300%. Coupled with inadequate training standards cited by security officers, poor conditions in the private security industry mean a greater threat to public safety and building security. For more information visit www.StopTheDoubleStandards.org.

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