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L.A. SECURITY OFFICERS PROTEST POVERTY CONDITIONS: Hundreds join NAACP, SCLC, local leaders, clergy at rally.
*Hundreds of mostly black security officers, NAACP, SCLC, elected leaders, community groups from South L.A. marched downtown Friday to the Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA) headquarters, protesting poverty conditions in the private security industry.
"Every day that the wealthy corporate landlords delay our civil rights, they are robbing us of up to half a million dollars in economic opportunities for South Los Angeles," said Rev. Eric P. Lee of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC).
The Stand for Security Coalition says in a statement that “nearly 70 percent of security officers in L.A. County are black and live well below the poverty line for a family of four. Most full-time security officers must work two full-time jobs due to poverty conditions in the city's security industry.”
"I can't support my family working security alone so I had to get a second, full-time job to try to make ends meet," security officer William Edwards said in a statement. "Our only hope is to organize."
The Stand for Security Coalition also say that “L.A.'s wealthiest corporate landlords are denying mostly black security officers their civil right and freedom to form a union, but in San Francisco, Chicago, New York City and other U.S. cities where officers have formed a union with Service Employees International Union (SEIU) they've won better training, wages, benefits, working conditions and improved public safety.”
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, in April, called on the city's real estate community to improve public safety in their buildings and improve working conditions for security officers, saying, "Security officers in San Francisco, New York, Chicago and other cities enjoy the right to belong to the union they want to belong to, earn decent wages and have access to affordable health benefits for themselves and their families. We will not stand by and let security officer who dedicate themselves to the safety and security of our city be left behind."
Friday’s march capped Five Days for Freedom, a massive mobilization to unite security officers across L.A. County to fight poverty conditions in the security industry. Los Angeles' African American community groups and clergy participating in Five Days for Freedom include ACORN, African American Collaborative, A. Philip Randolph Institute, Bus Riders Union, Clergy and Laity United For Economic Justice, Community Coalition, Community Call to Action and Accountability, Gangsters for Christ, NAACP, New Frontier Democratic Club, Pathways for Our Future, Ron Brown Democratic Club, Southern Christian Leadership Conference, The Organization US, and more.
