33 Newark public housing security guards laid off in possible “Union-Busting”
Newark NJ July 1 2019
Dozens of security guards protecting Newark’s public housing are out of a job, leaving some residents with a force of unfamiliar faces to protect them.
And the union representing the fired guards says the Newark Housing Authority is to blame.
“It’s union-busting,” Kevin Brown, vice president of 32BJ SEIU, said of the 33 security guards who were laid off earlier this month from eight NHA sites.
He said another two dozen workers left in the weeks prior amid negotiations.
The housing authority denied the claim, saying the company misstated how much it would cost to meet their workers’ wages and benefits and backed out after they were offered the work.
“It was never our intent to have anyone lose their jobs,” said Victor Cirilo, NHA’s executive director.
The security guards, contracted by Allied Universal, were replaced by non-union employees who don’t receive the same benefits, Brown said. He blamed NHA’s unclear bidding process for not requiring contractors provide prevailing wages and benefits to all of its employees. Without such protections, Brown said, companies with union contracts are left at a disadvantage.
“If you don’t adopt that language, there’s no direction … the only way to be engaged in the bid is to bid without the health care,” Brown said.
Brown said he’s tried to get the NHA to implement fair bidding rules for five years to “level the playing field” between union contractors and non-union contractors. Though Newark agreed to a prevailing wage and benefits rule in 2006, the NHA, which is independent of the city, has not.
A spokeswoman for Allied Universal confirmed the company could not agree to the new contract because the bid specifications and pricing options laid out by NHA “dictated significantly lower rates” and weren’t enough to cover union wages and benefit rates.
The housing authority said it wasn’t the agency’s role to ensure the company made a bid that included the cost of workers’ health benefits.
“It was their responsibility to bid a price that takes into account their collective bargaining expectation with 32BJ,” Cirilo said. “If they don’t understand that, they’re in the wrong business.”
When Allied walked away from the deal, Cirilo said he gave more work to three other security companies providing services for NHA, including Gateway Security Services, which now employs 104 union workers.
ProCops and Prime Security Services were also given a greater share of the work. Cirilo said he wasn’t sure if the two companies were offering health benefits to employees as it wasn’t a requirement in the bid.
ProCops and Prime did not return requests seeking comment.
The loss of the contract devastated employees and angered some city officials.
Dereck Jones said he worked in the same building on Frelinghuysen Avenue for 12 years until suddenly he was told he was out of a job.
“One day we had a job, the next day we didn’t,” he said. He said when new contractors take over, they usually keep the workers, but, in this case, all of Allied’s employees were told to leave. “We got pushed out.”
Allied said it offered other positions to its workers but Jones said it’s hard for those who don’t have a car and can’t drive to other cities.
During a protest Tuesday, members of SEIU 32BJ yelled “shame on you” as they pointed to the housing authority’s headquarters on Broad Street. City Council President Mildred Crump and a representative from Central Ward Councilwoman LaMonica McIver’s office also joined in.
Brown said even if Allied was given a contract that covered worker benefits, the NHA was only offering two of its sites for 10-12 workers.
“You still would have had 30-40 people out of work,” Brown said. “These workers were replaced for no reason … the housing authority is a tough place and you need people who know those neighborhoods.”
“The housing authority has a track record of being pro-labor and we will continue to allow that expectation,” he said.
Cirilo said the NHA is considering legal option to compel Allied to honor its bid.
nj.com
