Security Officers Take to Streets to Protect the 99%

SAN JOSE, Calif., July10,2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ --Security officers in ten locations throughout the U.S. this week are exchanging their flashlights and badges for protest signs and marching shoes as they take to the streets to protect the 99%--the vast majority of Americans whose work makes our nation prosper.

"Wall Street speculators, big bonus CEOs and corporate lobbyists are undermining our country's way of life," says Jenie Tivis, a security officer in Cincinnati. "As security officers, we're hitting the streets in order to protect the 99 percent."

The security officers believe our economy should serve all Americans—not just those in the top one percent. Paid as little as $8 per hour, America's 1.1 million security officers protect people and property at facilities owned by many of the largest Wall Street corporations.

Officers are taking action to improve jobs in the nation's fast-growing security industry. In the Bay Area and Los Angeles, officers are standing up for fair pay and quality, worker-earned healthcare. In Boston, Newark, Philadelphia and Silicon Valley, officers will be speaking out about conditions at U.S. Security Associates—a company whose workers provide $1.2 billion in annual revenue. In Chicago and Indianapolis, officers employed by Securatex will raise awareness about the freedom to form a union, without management interference. In Cincinnati, officers who provide profits for Brantley Security will join spiritual and community leaders outside the Atrium II Building, owned by the State Teachers Retirement System of Ohio, to defend the freedom to form a union. In Denver security officers and community supporters will speak out about working conditions at local security contractor Advantage.

Evidence shows that throughout the 50 states and across the globe, more equal societies not only sustain stronger economies, but also perform better on a variety of social indicators. For example, more equal societies foster longer life expectancies, higher educational attainment, more social mobility, and more interpersonal trust while enjoying lower rates of infant mortality, homicide, imprisonment, obesity, and mental illness—including drug and alcohol abuse.

Photos of some of the participating security officers and their reasons for speaking out can be seen at www.StandForSecurity.org.

Hoping to improve public safety and bring good jobs to their communities, more than 35,000 security officers across the country have united in SEIU, the largest security officers union in the United States.

SOURCE Service Employees International Union

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