Federal security officers demand workplace, equipment upgrades from contractor in Bensalem
Bensalem PA July 18 2021
Federal armed officers, tired of deteriorating equipment and other quality-of-work conditions, have delivered hundreds of signed petitions to the Bensalem headquarters of Department of Homeland Security contractor Triple Canopy.
Triple Canopy is a division of Constellis, which bills itself as the largest and most diverse non-financial risk management company in the United States.
“The contract manager received the petitions,” said veteran and Federal Officer Shaun Bass, “and we are waiting on Constellis to have that sit-down.”
DHS currently uses Triple Canopy to provide security services throughout federal buildings in the Philadelphia metropolitan area including Bucks, Chester, Delaware and Montgomery counties.
In a prepared statement, Constellis said Triple Canopy “has received multiple requests for voluntary recognition by collective bargaining representatives seeking to represent security officer employees working” on the company’s Federal Protective Service Philadelphia contract.
“Triple Canopy will not prefer one group over another and believes the best way for employees to express their choice of collective bargaining representative,” read a portion of the statement, “free from coercion or interference is through the legal process of a secret ballot election conducted by the National Labor Relations Board.”
The workers and their union, 32BJ SEIU, said they have itemized where they feel improvement is needed and alerted Triple Canopy in May about the issues. Earlier this month, they delivered their petition to the Bensalem headquarters.
The union currently has 22,000 members in its local, which includes Pennsylvania and Delaware. Union representatives said they haven’t given a deadline for Triple Canopy to respond to the petition.
However, the union wants its grievances addressed before the fourth-option year of their contract is exercised on Oct. 1.
Aside from the inherent stress of the job, federal officers working in the region said they have to contend with everything from buttons popping off new uniforms to having to wait an inordinate amount of time for new bulletproof vests.
“The gear that we currently have, the quality needs to be better and should be better,” Bass said. “And I believe equipment should be tested to make sure it’s up to par; I don’t think we should just be issued equipment and given assurances by word of mouth saying (the equipment is adequate) and will perform when you need it to and when you have to use it.”
The union noted these “inadequate uniforms and equipment may jeopardize the officers’ safety.”
“Even after placing equipment replacement requests, it can take Triple Canopy up to six months or more to replace broken supplies or uniforms,” reads a portion of a factsheet provided by the union. “Many officers have spent hundreds of dollars out of pocket to buy their own pants and boots because Triple Canopy fails to provide them with adequate uniforms that would keep them safe.”
The firm did not comment on the specifics of the union’s concerns.
Federal Officer James Paulsey said these uniform issues, particular as it related to vests, have not only been going on for some time, it may lead to an officer being injured or worse.
“It shouldn’t take you a year to get a new bulletproof vest, and this has been an ongoing thing,” he said. “From vests to the basic uniforms and shirts and pants. It’s all over the place.”
Paulsey and other officers are also concerned with the weapons they are given to do their jobs.
“We receive handguns in used condition,” Paulsey said. “And there have been malfunctions with the guns. We have been very vocal about it and tried to complain, but we feel like we are being ignored.”
According to the union, officers also reported issues with their gun holsters and pepper spray, some fearing that their holsters do not securely hold the gun, and the gun could easily come out or be removed. Additionally, officers report that they cannot open or have difficulty opening their pepper spray case.
The union also received a report from an officer detailing that Triple Canopy issued pepper spray that expired one month after she started, and did not give her a new pepper spray until over two years past the expiration date of the first one.
Paulsey said discipline is rarely fair-handed if meted out at all, and that allegations of sexual harassment have largely gone unaddressed.
“There is ongoing sexual harassment of female officers, and we have complained through the company,” Paulsey said. “And supervisors, if they have a personal issue with someone, they use the scheduling system to punish people or to go at people.”
According to the union, Triple Canopy is currently under investigation with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission after an officer alleged that he was discriminated against and faced retaliation on the basis of his religion. The officer alleges that Triple Canopy denied his requests for reasonable accommodation to wear a beard and retaliated against him by transferring him to another location and reducing his hours.
While the officer’s previous federal security employer granted this accommodation, Triple Canopy denied it.
The firm did not respond to the allegations when asked for comment.
The union also pointed to the case of another Muslim officer who alleged that Triple Canopy unfairly disciplined and threatened him with discipline for maintaining a beard despite that he sought a religious accommodation for his beard.
Other concerns on the petition include protecting workers from religious harassment at worksites; creating wage parity for newly hired officers and raising wages from $25.05 an hour to $28.05 an hour; recognizing Juneteenth as a paid holiday; and providing screener training.
“Screener training is very important, and is a key necessity in keeping the building safe. It allows us to detect weapons and explosives, which are hazardous to any and everyone who enters a building,” Bass said. “And the training shouldn’t be condensed, but spread out.”
Paulsey said he isn’t overly optimistic in Triple Canopy’s response to the union’s demands.
“People have talked to the people overseeing the contract, and there has been nothing” in the way of a response, Paulsey said. “Our complaints and our issues don’t seem to be getting escalated. (Triple Canopy) talks a good game, but once they got the contract, they threw us to the wind.
“They are not doing what they agreed to in the contract,” Paulsey added. “For all intents and purposes, this is the worst company we ever had to deal with.”
Courier Times
