SIR 鈥� The powers-that-be at Group 4 Securicor should listen to the advice offered by their former immigration director and current British Security Industry Association chief executive David Dickinson (鈥榁alue not price, careers not jobs鈥�, Manned Security Solutions Supplement, SMT, February 2005, pp24-25).

In the interview, David emphasises the importance of pay and working conditions in attracting high quality people to the industry. This is surely the only responsible stance for the security industry to adopt? However, in spite of its corporate responsibility rhetoric, Group 4 Securicor is undermining the co-operative efforts of unions and other interested parties in the industry to drive up standards.

In the United States, the record of the company鈥檚 subsidiary Wackenhut is one of low wages, low standards of training, poor vetting procedures and employees having to pay for their own bullet-resistant vests!

If David is to achieve one of his stated goals (ie to help improve the quality of all security employees), then all security contractors must be forced to provide their workers with 鈥渕ore job enrichment and fulfilment鈥�.

At the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), we鈥檙e campaigning alongside companies from around the world for Group 4 Securicor to match its high-minded rhetoric with improved pay and working conditions for its employees. At present, those employees don鈥檛 even have access to the most basic of employment rights.

Only then they do will we feel secure with our own security sector.

Stephen Lerner, Director (星空传媒 Services Division), Service Employees International Union

Source

SMT

Postscript

SIR 鈥� First of all, I wish to THANK Stephen for his Letter To The Editor. Thank you also for allowing us the right of reply in the same edition of Security Management Today.

The SEIU has carried out a sustained campaign against Wackenhut and its customers in the US, which has forced Wackenhut to file two unfair labour practice charges with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).

While negotiations in the US had reached an impasse some time ago, Group 4 Securicor continued general discussions with the SEIU in an attempt to maintain some level of relationship. However, we have recently been updated on the nature and extent of the SEIU campaigns against Wackenhut and its customers and, as a result, it has been necessary to suspend all discussions with the union until such time as these legal cases are resolved.

We believe that the SEIU campaign activities against Wackenhut鈥檚 customers in the US are unlawful, and that Wackenhut is fully justified in taking whatever legal redress is available to protect its customers and employees.

Wakenhut enjoys relationships with around 15 different unions, with whom it has over 70 Collective Bargaining Agreements. Wackenhut also has a higher-than-industry average number of workers represented by unions in the United States, and pay rates 40% above the industry average.

Wackenhut boasts the highest staff retention rates in the US security industry. At 35%-40%, this is some way below the industry average of over 200%.

Group 4 Securicor and its subsidiaries are not anti-union. Indeed, we have relationships with over 60 unions throughout the world and in Europe. We have established union recognition equal to (or above) the industry norms in all of the European nations in which we operate. Here, we have 55% union membership set against the industry norm of 46%.

However, we do believe that relationships are built through partnership and mutual trust, and we are disappointed to find ourselves in this position. The decision to suspend discussions with the SEIU in no way affects any other ongoing union relationships, and we are fully committed to maintaining our excellent relationships with employees, customers and the unions alike.

Douglas Greenwell, Marketing Director, Group 4 Securicor (UK Security)