Some Lincoln Road security guards want to unionize. Are their bosses preventing them from doing so? Photo by Richard M. Brooks

The Anti-Alliance

Is a City-Contracted Company Violating Its Employees Rights to Unionize?

By Lee Molloy

Every day on South Beach residents and visitors see private bicycle security guards patrolling the streets and boardwalks. The guards are employed by Security Alliance of Florida, a company contracted by the City of Miami Beach to provide extra security in the city.

A familiar sight on Lincoln Road, the guards will often detain a shoplifter or stand between a couple of rowdy drunks until police arrive.

“Even though we do call the police, sometimes they don’t arrive [right away], and we’re the first responders,” Alliance Security Guard Chris Wooten told the Miami Beach Commission at their July 15 meeting. Wooten illustrated his point by explaining that just the previous day his presence on the boardwalk prevented a woman from being robbed.

Wooten, along with several other Security Alliance employees, some of whom had been laid off, came before the commission to gain support in their efforts to form a union, claiming that the management of Security Alliance was discouraging them from doing so.

Eric Brakken, District Director for the local Service Employees International Union (SEIU), spoke out on the workers behalf, and made the potential dangers of the job clear: he reminded them of Security Alliance guard Chevor Wint, who was shot and killed while patrolling the Miami-Dade Metrorail Earlington Heights station parking garage on June 14.

The commission listened to the employee’s complaints and promised to review the City’s contract with the company, adding that they expect the company to strictly comply with all federal laws in regards to their labor practices.

“We were pleased with the commission’s action,” Brakken said, “and we will see what Security Alliance does next.”

What Is Next?

“A few workers have been trying to organize for several months now,” Eugenio Villasante, Communications Manager of the local SEIU, told The Lead.

However, Villasante claims that management has hampered their efforts.

“Security Alliance has been charged with intimidating workers for exercising their rights to organize, and threatening them with discharge for their legal union activities,” Villasante said.

Charges filed with the National Labor Relations Board on July 13 include threatening to fire employees for organizing with the union, interrogating a worker about union activity, and the termination of security officer Richard Ruiz “in retaliation for his concerted, protected activities including supporting” a union.

Ruiz says that he was fired “because I said that I wanted to be part of the union,” he told The Lead, adding that the axe came down two weeks after the alleged policy violation, and just one day after he complained about Security Alliance to the Miami New Times. “A day later they fired me,” he said.

David Ramirez, CEO of Security Alliance, dismisses the allegations.

“We do not terminate people unless they have violated a company policy,” Ramirez said, adding “I didn’t know the New Times had an article.”

Ruiz’ firing and alleged violation stems from a device used by security companies called a ‘deggy.’ The tool is basically an electronic key that each guard carries, allowing the company to track the movements of their employees.

The guard must clock-in with the deggy at the start of a shift and, as they patrol, keep punching in at various locations on their route every 15 minutes or so - the points can be seen by a keen observer attached to trees and buildings around the city.

Failure to punch-in in a timely manner will result in a fine, common in the security industry, known as a ‘deggy deduction.’

“Sometimes if you are calling the police, maybe you forget the time the problem started and ended,” Ruiz said, but “if you miss the deggy, they deduct money.”

However, because security guards ride in pairs, there are ways to subvert the system. Ruiz says that his former manager, Jerry Paskowitz told him about a pair of security guards who would scam the system by each working on alternate days, and punching in their partner’s deggy along with their own to appear as if they had both been on duty.

It was a similar violation that allegedly got Ruiz fired.

Ruiz told The Lead that a few weeks ago he arrived at work at 6 a.m. but his partner was late. His supervisor, Francisco Enamorado gave him both deggys.

Later, after he had already started using it, Ruiz realized that he had actually been punching in with his partner’s deggy. Ruiz says that he immediately informed Enamorado of the error and was told it was “no problem.”

“Yeah, he told me that it was a mistake,” Enamorado said. “I told the manager [Jerry Paskowitz], and he got really mad and told me to write him up.” Enamorado added that “Jerry wasn’t really happy about Richard [Ruiz], or all the other guys who signed with the union.”

However, it was another two weeks before Ruiz was fired, even though he had been led to believe everything was OK. The day after speaking with the press, however, “Jerry Paskowitz called me and said that he changed his mind,” Ruiz said.

During the same week that Ruiz was fired, Enamorado was also fired by Paskowitz for an alleged use of profane language, an accusation that he denies.

Enamorado says the reason for his dismissal wasn’t retaliation, but nepotism. Paskowitz really fired him “because he probably wants to put someone else in there, a nephew or another family member,” Enamorado told The Lead, adding that he is not convinced by any conspiracy theories. “My opinion about the union is positive,” he said, but, “I don’t have any information that [Paskowitz] fired me for that reason.”

Threats and Counter Threats

Brakken says the local SEIU has been speaking with Security Alliance for several months and their research has found that even though they are often first responders “they lack any training for their positions,” he said. “They were put in their posts and were told to work next to another officer on day one and that was about the extent of the training.”

Furthermore, claiming that during 2008 there was a 120 percent turnover in staff the company is “not attracting or retaining highly-skilled security officers,” Brakken said.

Alex Bello, President of the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) has other concerns. “Their [pay] comes out of the police budget, and it is my opinion and my view that those positions should really be officers working there and not security guards,” Bello said.

Although he made it clear that he supports any employees’ right to unionize, he added that “yeah, they’re eyes and ears for us but they still have to call the police. They really don’t have any law enforcement power,” Bello said.

Ruiz told The Lead that Security Alliance used to hold regular company meetings but after there was talk of a union the meetings came to an end. The company did, however, call a meeting to lecture employees about potential dangers in joining a union and “told employees that if they didn’t go they would fire or suspend them,” Ruiz said. “They always threaten you. … a lot of people are scared, because David [Ramirez] or Jerry [Paskowitz] will just tell you ‘you’re fired.’ Just like that, ‘you’re fired.’”

At that meeting, Paskowitz “showed a video talking bad about the union, saying that all they do is take your money away and that everything is a lie,” Ruiz said, adding that later “they came and they started interrogating officers, trying to spy. They even took photos of officers talking to union employees.”

Ramirez tells a different story.

“I always support employees right to unionize,” Ramirez said. “I’ve never stopped officers from trying to unionize.”

However, a two page internal Security Alliance memo sent by Paskowitz to all employees on April 9 opines that employees should not join the union, stating “We feel very strongly that you do not need a union.”

When asked about the memo, Ramirez responded that “we don’t want them to fall to misinformation or deceptive information. We believe that unionizing will not give them any more than they have.”

Forty-eight of the company’s roughly 70 security guards signed Union Authorization Cards anyway.

Threats All Around

According to Ramirez, he is the one being targeted.

“I am the victim,” Ramirez said. “What I am doing is dropping on the grenade for the sake of my security officers.”

Ramirez also says that Brakken has both threatened and bribed him.

“They threatened me with the same campaign to disparage me as they did to the University of Miami,” Ramirez said, claiming that Brakken told him, “‘we are relentless, we will not stop,’” then added “they promised me ‘we can get you contracts.’”

Brakken was “shocked” to hear Ramirez’ version of events.

“I guess his interpretation of conversations is his interpretation, but I wouldn’t call voicing employees concerns ‘disparaging,’” Brakken said. “Contractors that are willing to play by the rules and try to work towards improving standards should be supported.”

Ramirez also worries that there are plenty of companies that could do the job of supplying security to the City of Miami Beach for significantly less money than Security Alliance charges.

“What they’re doing is trying to force me to force the city to terminate their own contract,” Ramirez said.

Commissioner Jerry Libbin is one politician who sees Ramirez’ point.

“In general it seems employees that are part of the union do better with the union negotiating,” Libbin said. “There’s the other side of it too, the City is in a position where we’re cutting expenses. If at the end of the day Security Alliance is not the winner of the bid because they were too [expensive], you may have a higher salary, but be out of a job.”

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