Several subcontracted campus security guards joined with campus groups and a major union yesterday morning to present a petition to the university calling for increased wages and benefits.
Fifteen of the guards, contracted by Georgetown through Allied-Barton Security Services, one of the largest security contractors in the country, signed the petition, which was delivered to the office of University President John J. DeGioia.
“We feel that we do not receive the respect, wages and benefits that we deserve,” the petition read. “Our wages are too low to support our families and the health insurance options are far out of reach for many of us.”
The new demand for increased wages comes after Georgetown’s decision last March to raise all contracted workers’ salaries and benefits to at least $13 an hour by July from the former minimum compensation of $11.33. This “Just Employment Policy,” which was implemented following a nine-day student hunger strike that attracted national attention, also committed to raise contracted workers’ compensation to at least $14 an hour by July 2007.
Members of the Georgetown Solidarity Committee, which helped to organize the petition effort, said that the university had not lived up to its promises of a wage increase for the Allied-Barton employees, who monitor access into Georgetown’s residence halls between 11:30 p.m. and 8:00 a.m. GSC member Jack Mahoney (SFS ’08) said that the security workers have received only a small raise in base pay – from $9.70 an hour to $9.77 an hour – since the new policy was announced.
While they were uncertain how much the workers’ benefits were worth in dollar terms – Allied-Barton provides its employees with health coverage and life insurance, among other benefits – petition backers said that the benefits could not feasibly bridge the $3.23 gap between the guards’ base salary and Georgetown’s promised total compensation.
“You’ve got to have some mighty nice benefits if you’re making $3.23 an hour,” said Rich Gibson, an organizer for Service Employees International Union, which represents the security officers and helped to arrange the petition. At Georgetown, “people aren’t making what they need to live. But it’s going to happen,” he said.
University spokeswoman Julie Bataille said that the university remained committed to its new compensation policies and that all contracted employees, including the Allied-Barton security guards, are receiving at least $13 an hour in salary and benefits.
“The university has been implementing its just employment policy and, effective July 1, all Allied contract workers at Georgetown are receiving at least $13 per hour in total compensation,” Bataille said.
Curtis Brantley, who signed the petition and has been an Allied-Barton employee at Georgetown since May, said that he wanted to be assigned to the GU campus after he heard that the university planned to raise contracted workers’ wages.
“That was disappointing because that was one of the reasons I came to Georgetown to work,” he said. “$9.77 is not enough.”
Brantley, who is married and has two children, said that even his $9.77 base salary is cut to pay for benefits like life insurance and medical care for his children. He ultimately takes home only about $7 an hour after paying for benefits, he said.
“The benefit itself isn’t the problem. It’s the base salary that’s the problem,” Brantley said. “I think we should be getting paid something where we’re comfortable, where we don’t have to do all this.”
Nora Gaines, a SEIU official specializing in the Georgetown efforts, said that the Allied-Barton employees are also attempting to unionize with SEIU. She also said that, although SEIU is promoting petitions at other schools on the East Coast, Georgetown remains a unique venue for the campaign because of its living wage pledges last spring.
“They received a seven-cent raise. . That’s not a living wage,” she said. The guards’ benefits are “not three dollars plus,” she added. “It doesn’t add up to $13.”
Gaines also stressed the impact of high rent costs and other expenses in the Washington, D.C., area.
“Washington, D.C., and the metropolitan area is a very expensive area to live, and $9.97 is not enough,” she said.
She added that a “strong majority” of contracted guards at Georgetown had signed the petition, and that SEIU would continue its efforts with the guards and with student groups in the future.
“I can’t give you any specifics, but we’re not done,” she said. “It’ll be something that’ll be ongoing until we win this for the workers there.”
Officials at Allied-Barton did not return phone calls seeking comment yesterday.