Resistance from UTS Administration in Security Guards’ Fight for Fair Wages
Image description: Students write messages expressing support for UTS security guards in their fight for fair wages at the Worker Solidarity Chapel on March 22nd.
Photo credit: Shanaz Deen.
Each of us came to Union Theological Seminary because we aspired to attend the seminary most committed to social justice, especially antiracism. The halls of our storied institution ring with the names of those who have continuously pushed beyond the bounds of theological discourse, each time speaking and working toward a more just and inclusive society. It is this formidable history that inspires each generation of students to continue in this legacy of liberation. But is it possible for us to do this work when our administration cannot offer concrete justice, in the form of living wages, to its security guards?
Over the last weeks, major developments have taken place in the security guards’ fight for fair wages and benefits. One of the most significant obstacles for the campaign has been getting the Union Theological Seminary administration to concede their position in the bargaining process between themselves, 32BJ, and Allied Security. 32BJ is the union that represents the security guards. Allied Universal is the third-party provider through whom the UTS administration contracts their security guards.
Throughout this process, emails from UTS President Serene Jones and Interim Vice President for Finance and Operations Maureen Harrigan have repeatedly stated that they have no authority in the bargaining process, and that they must wait for negotiations to take place between 32BJ and Allied. This is not accurate. The UTS administration sets the wages, benefits, and working conditions for the security guards. Although the UTS administration employs a third party contractor, Allied, to act as a middle manager for the workers, Allied does not set the wages or benefits for the workers. If the UTS administration wanted to pay the workers a living wage and healthcare, they would simply pay Allied the additional money. Allied wants to retain their contract with UTS, and it does not cost them any additional money for the UTS administration to pay a higher wage. For example, this past fall, the UTS administration decided to give the security guards a $2 raise, and all they had to do was pay Allied $2/hr more per person.
Many years ago, at the expense of the security guards, the UTS administration outsourced their positions to a third-party provider in order to save money. This was a classic strategy of privatization, or “corporate outsourcing.” In an effort to cut costs, the UTS administration looked for the cheapest bidder that could provide security. This ended up being G4S, a notorious private security group, recently acquired by Allied Security, with significant ties to the private prison industrial complex, a relationship described in extensive detail by Angela Davis in her chapter “On Palestine, G4S, and the Prison Industrial Complex,” in her book, “Freedom is a Constant Struggle.” The reason that these contracts are so cheap is because the third-party contractors slash wages, do not give raises, eliminate healthcare, overtime, and pensions, and reduce the number of holidays and PTO days. The UTS administration saves money while the campus security guards are forced to take second and third jobs just to make ends meet. All the while, the administration can feign ignorance. Using contracted labor as an economic system accelerated in the 1980’s under the presidency of Ronald Reagan, and under this system, administrators can avoid responsibility for their workers and place blame on the third-party contractor.
Image description: Sherwin Shambuger addresses all those who attended the Security Guards Solidarity Chapel on March 22nd.
Photo credit: Shanaz Deen.
The human toll of such egregious corporate maneuvering by the UTS administration is devastating. Sherwin Shambuger has been employed by G4S/Allied for thirteen years and has been at UTS for six years. On Tuesday, March 22, he was found collapsed on the ground outside his car just after midnight when he was coming in to work his overnight shift. He just returned to work today. Students set up a GoFundMe for him, since he had exhausted his sick days and was not being paid for the workdays he missed. For the past six years, Mr. Shambuger has not received a single raise commensurate with his experience, employer provided healthcare, nor increase in PTO or sick days. Based on the current wages and benefits that the security guards are fighting for, student organizers have conservatively estimated that the UTS administration has saved $262,260 on Mr. Shambuger’s work alone during his six years here. This figure not only represents the money that should belong to Mr. Shambuger, but it signifies the additional strain and hardship that the UTS administration has placed on his life by engaging in these corporate cost-cutting practices.
Furthermore, this is a classic example of how the exploitation of Black and Brown workers is foundational to systemic racism. Every one of UTS’s security guards is a person of color. In her June, 2020 New York Times article “What is Owed” Nicole Hannah Jones states, “So much of what makes Black lives hard, what takes Black lives earlier, what causes Black Americans to be vulnerable to the type of surveillance and policing that killed Breonna Taylor and George Floyd, what steals opportunities, is the lack of wealth that has been a defining feature of Black life since the end of slavery.” When you consider Mr. Shambuger alone has been deprived of at least $262,260, the amount of wealth the UTS administration has kept from Black and Brown communities is staggering. This is why we must take seriously the conversations surrounding reparations for Black Americans.
Image description: A graph depicting how much money the UTS administration has saved by withholding benefits from the security guards and paying them $15/hr as opposed to $26/hr, the wages they are currently fighting for.
Graphic credit: Shanaz Deen.
As the seminary leads conversations on racial justice and diversity, equity, and inclusion with the Majors Leadership Group and hosts key figures like Khalil Gibran Muhammad, the administration has an inherent obligation to do better for its Black and Brown workers. It is imperative that the workers have the benefits reinstated that were taken away from them when the UTS administration decided to contract their labor from a third-party source years ago. For years, the security guards have been paid $15/hr, with no price differential, or additional pay for working the night shift or holidays. Their wages were only bumped to $17/hr at the beginning of this year.
Still, the workers recognized that their collective power is much stronger if they form a union to fight for the wages and benefits they deserve. For an adult with one child in New York City, MIT calculates that a living wage is $38.35/hr. The security guards are fighting for $26/hr. This is not an arbitrary number. The maintenance workers at UTS are provided by Harvard Maintenance, and while they begin at $20/hr, after thirty months they are given a raise to $26. But thirty months is too long to wait when a living wage is nearly double this. The security guards are fighting to reach this number after one year of employment.
While emails from President Jones and Interim Vice President Harrigan have already promised healthcare, a pension, and more PTO days, it is important to remember that filling a negative – giving back what was already deserved – is the bare minimum of the UTS administration’s obligations. In no way does it make up for the harm that has been done. Despite their promises, the UTS administration has not agreed to the workers’ wage proposal of $26/hr. One must ask, “If the UTS administration can guarantee health benefits, a pension, and additional PTO, why can they not also commit to $26 per hour?” The answer is simple: they are trying to cut costs on the backs of their Black and Brown workers. The security guards have remained steadfast in this demand, and just this past week, they delivered a letter to the administration to let them know that they remain united in calling for $26/hr.
At this point in the campaign, it is critically important for students, faculty, staff, and all others associated with the UTS community to stand strong and apply pressure on the administration to grant the security guards at least the $26 per hour and benefits they are entitled to. Next Monday, April 4th, there will be a rally in front of the seminary at 12:30 PM, headlined by Dr. Cornel West, where all community members are invited to come and show their support. Meeting the workers’ demands will in no way rectify the harm and racial injustice that the UTS administration has caused, but it will be a good place to begin to make amends. A seminary that takes great pride in itself as a bastion of social justice has no business in employing corporate privatization strategies that harm workers of color who are most critical to the daily operations of its institution. The seminary's budget is indeed a moral document that should reflect their proclaimed values. The workers have made their demands clear, and we are calling on the UTS administration to meet them.
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