Mayor celebrates with newly unionized guards

Hundreds of low-wage security guards and their supporters rallied Sunday in South Los Angeles at a raucous, noisy party to celebrate the birth of their new union.

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa was on hand to salute what he called the “unity in diversity” of the new 4,000-member unit of the Service Employees International Union.

Members of the new union, 70% of whom are black, will affiliate with an existing union representing mostly Latino janitors, pooling the interests and futures of both groups, Villaraigosa said.

Union officials said guards now start at pay as low as $8.50 an hour with no benefits. A management representative said he believed the average was nearer $9 to $10 an hour and that about 20% have medical benefits.

“A decent wage, healthcare, the right to organize is something that’s important to the health of our communities here in Los Angeles,” said Villaraigosa, who was a labor organizer before he went into politics.

“We will sing ‘We Shall Overcome’ because we have overcome,” said Pastor Lewis Logan II of the Bethel AME Church in South Los Angeles, which played host to the celebration. Logan helped pushed the union forward and thanked Villaraigosa for his support in “making the impossible possible.”

The new union will represent workers in 700 buildings across Los Angeles, who work unarmed. The bargaining unit will represent workers in most of the area’s buildings that are 75,000 square feet or larger.

Union organizer Jono Shaffer said guards currently make up to $6 less per hour in total compensation compared with union janitors. He called the formation of the union, based on votes at five firms that supply guards to building managers, a “huge breakthrough.” The union has organized guards in New York, Chicago, San Francisco and seven other cities, officials said.

In Los Angeles, collective bargaining should produce a contract by the end of the year, according to union officials and Tony Sabatino, regional head of Securitas, one the five firms the union says it has organized.

Martha Cox-Nitikman, interim executive director of the Building Owners and Managers Assn. of Greater Los Angeles, said she had not yet received confirmation that the union won the elections.

The organizing drive began five years ago and has been endorsed by many politicians, including council members, state legislators, Villaraigosa and his predecessor, James K. Hahn. The key development was the agreement last year by building owners to remain neutral on the union question and permit prospective members to sign pledge cards to show support for the group, called Security Officers United in Los Angeles Local 2006.

Villaraigosa acknowledged “the tenacity and determination” of union organizers who prepared the way for the historic union vote earlier this year.

john.spano@latimes.com