{"id":451593,"date":"2026-09-03T00:24:28","date_gmt":"2026-09-03T00:24:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/451593\/"},"modified":"2026-09-03T00:24:28","modified_gmt":"2026-09-03T00:24:28","slug":"workers-guarding-san-franciscos-wealthiest-companies-vote-to-authorize-a-strike","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/451593\/","title":{"rendered":"Workers Guarding San Francisco\u2019s Wealthiest Companies Vote to Authorize a Strike"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Security guards working for Silicon Valley\u2019s AI giants could go on strike as soon as union leaders call for it. <\/p>\n<p>Sep 2, 2026<\/p>\n<p>Updated 5:16 pm PT<\/p>\n<p><img src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/260902-SecurityStrike-NG-11_qed.jpg\"   width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" alt=\"\" loading=\"eager\" decoding=\"async\" fetchpriority=\"high\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Supervisor Connie Chan speaks at a Sept. 2, 2026, press conference at Mechanics Monument Plaza in San Francisco\u2019s Financial District. She announced that union security officers from across San Francisco and Silicon Valley voted in favor of an Unfair Labor Practice strike authorization.\u00a0(Nina Glick\/KQED)<\/p>\n<p class=\"blocks-v1-Paragraph-__Paragraph__paragraph wp-block wp-block-paragraph container\">The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kqed.org\/forum\/2010101914652\/the-challenges-and-dangers-security-guards-face\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">security workers<\/a> who guard tech companies and other offices across San Francisco took a step toward a walkout Wednesday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"blocks-v1-Paragraph-__Paragraph__paragraph wp-block wp-block-paragraph container\">Amid months of negotiations with massive contractors like Allied Universal and Securitas, members of the Service Employees International Union-United Service Workers West, the union that represents some security workers, voted to authorize a strike in response to unfair labor practices.<\/p>\n<p class=\"blocks-v1-Paragraph-__Paragraph__paragraph wp-block wp-block-paragraph container\">As drums pounded and workers chanted at the Mechanic Monument Plaza in downtown San Francisco on Wednesday, David Huerta, president of SEIU-USWW, called for improved benefits and a $30 minimum wage. This is more than what the private companies are offering in negotiations, he said.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/260902-SecurityStrike-NG-8_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12098185\"  \/>SEIU-USWW President David Huerta speaks at a press conference announcing that union security officers from across San Francisco and Silicon Valley voted in favor of an Unfair Labor Practice (ULP) strike authorization at Mechanics Monument Plaza in San Francisco\u2019s Financial District on Sept. 2, 2026.\u00a0(Nina Glick\/KQED)<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/260902-SecurityStrike-NG-2_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12098180\"\/>Jerry Longoria, who works as a security officer at Cartier on behalf of Allied Universal, wears an SEIU-USWW pin at a Sept. 2, 2026, press conference at Mechanics Monument Plaza in San Francisco\u2019s Financial District. The union representing union security officers from across San Francisco and Silicon Valley voted in favor of an Unfair Labor Practice (ULP) strike authorization.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/260902-SecurityStrike-NG-12_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12098183\"\/>An advocate holds a sign during a Sept. 2, 2026, press conference at Mechanics Monument Plaza in San Francisco\u2019s Financial District. Security officers represented by the union from across San Francisco and Silicon Valley voted in favor of an Unfair Labor Practice strike authorization.<\/p>\n<p class=\"blocks-v1-Paragraph-__Paragraph__paragraph wp-block wp-block-paragraph container\">\u201cWho can survive with $22 an hour in San Francisco?\u201d Huerta asked as members of the crowd shouted, \u201cShame.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"blocks-v1-Paragraph-__Paragraph__paragraph wp-block wp-block-paragraph container\">Allied Universal declined to comment on ongoing labor negotiations.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"blocks-v1-Paragraph-__Paragraph__paragraph wp-block wp-block-paragraph container\">Tejinder Singh, a security officer at Google and bargaining committee member, said that the union and the security giants have their last round of negotiations Wednesday, and that officers are ready to strike if the companies do not agree to their demands.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/260902-SecurityStrike-NG-1_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12098181\"  \/>A security officer chants during a Sept. 2, 2026, press conference at Mechanics Monument Plaza in San Francisco\u2019s Financial District, where the union representing security officers from across San Francisco and Silicon Valley voted in favor of an Unfair Labor Practice strike authorization.\u00a0(Nina Glick\/KQED)<\/p>\n<p class=\"blocks-v1-Paragraph-__Paragraph__paragraph wp-block wp-block-paragraph container\">Anthropic and the other tech companies did not respond to KQED\u2019s request for comment in time for publication.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"blocks-v1-Paragraph-__Paragraph__paragraph wp-block wp-block-paragraph container\">Private contractors like Allied Universal and Securitas also provide guards for hospitals, transit agencies and other offices \u2014 including KQED.<\/p>\n<p class=\"blocks-v1-Paragraph-__Paragraph__paragraph wp-block wp-block-paragraph container\">\u201cWe are prepared, if necessary, to do what labor has the ultimate power to do,\u201d Huerta said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"blocks-v1-Paragraph-__Paragraph__paragraph wp-block wp-block-paragraph container\">KQED\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kqed.org\/author\/nvoynovskaya\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Nastia Voynovskaya<\/a> contributed to this report.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Security guards working for Silicon Valley\u2019s AI giants could go on strike as soon as union leaders call&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":451594,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[101,103,102,104,106,105],"class_list":["post-451593","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-francisco","tag-san-francisco","tag-san-francisco-headlines","tag-san-francisco-news","tag-sf","tag-sf-headlines","tag-sf-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/451593","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=451593"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/451593\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/451594"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=451593"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=451593"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=451593"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}