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Stand for Security
CMM Worked with Colleagues on
the Stand for Security Campaign
and has this Good news to report in our shared struggle
for the rights and economic wellbeing of workers.
Hello Community Allies,
Thanks in large part to your work and support, on Saturday, Boston and Cambridge
officers overwhelmingly ratified the first contract covering private security
officers working in Commercial Real Estate in our region. Despite being in the
midst of a meltdown in the financial sector (a key industry in Boston), security
officers have made incredible gains that will not only transform their jobs but
this industry.
Because of the support of religious leaders, community leaders and
elected officials, together we forced a discussion amongst some of the
wealthiest companies in our city about how work should be rewarded and
the obligations of the "hub" to the "hood". The Real Estate Industry
must remember its obligations not just to the workers that protect and
clean their buildings but also to the communities where those workers
live. Community support through prayer vigils, delegations to buildings,
rallies, emails, calls of support and many other ways was so critical
and we know that community and labor together can move mountains.
In Solidarity!
The SEIU 615 Stand for Security Team
Below are highlights from the agreement:
Effective date: 1/1/09. Runs to: 6/30/13
Wages: $12.75 an hour on 1/1/09,with guaranteed 50 cent raises each year
, rising to $14.75 by January, 2013. For the lowest paid officers, this
means an immediate 27% increase and 47% moreover the life of the
contract. Higher paid officers will see pay go up by 18%over the life of
the contract.
Health Insurance: Employers must offer quality health, dental and vision
plans that protect officers when sick or injured. Real quality health
insurance means officers won coverage that does not put them at risk of
having to pay $2,000 in fines to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts for
being uninsured.
Paid Time Off:
● Holidays: Security officers won seven holidays. When their
building is closed on these days - which include New Years, Martin
Luther King Day, Memorial Day,4thof July, Labor Day, Thanksgiving and
Christmas - officers will be paid for the scheduled hours they would
have worked. Those working on holidays will receive time and a half.
● Sick days: With one year of seniority, officers will get one
paid day to take care of themselves or a sick child and can eventually
accrue up to three sick days based on seniority.
● Vacations: Officers won real paid vacations for the first time.
One year of seniority equals one week vacation. Officers can eventually
accrue up to three weeks of vacation with seniority
Job Security: Officers won some important basic rights that will mean
greater job security, including a grievance process to resolve disputes,
on-site worker representation, and arbitration. The result is that
officers can now no longer be written up, suspended, or fired without
any protection.
Overtime and schedules: Officers won overtime pay, not in comp time, as
is the current practice. Additionally, officers received agreements on
reasonable scheduling; including restricting work hours to no more than
16 hours in a day, paid half hour meal breaks, no requirement to stand
at a post for unreasonable period.
©2009 Cooperative Metropolitan
Ministries (CMM) ~ email: info@coopmet.org
474 Centre Street ~ Newton, MA
02458 ~ office: 617-244-3650 ~ fax:
617-630-9172
Alexander Levering Kern, Executive Director: akern@coopmet.org |
