Support the San Francisco Security Workers!

Police, security guards, sheriffs, private security guards, detectives, ad nauseum, are not workers. When it comes to health care, this country is 134 years behind Germany in providing universal health care. At the same time in Germany in 1883, under Bismarck, the workingclass also won old age pensions and unemployment benefits. In 1935, after general strikes in 1934 led by the longshore workers in San Francisco, Teamsters in Minneapolis and workers in Toledo, Roosevelt originally offered a bill that included universal health care, Social Security and unemployment benefits, but then deleted the health care as he did not know if the Dixiecrats (Southern segregationist Democrats) would go along with the whole program, which could easily have passed as labor was actually active then. So now we wait 134 years later for the backward USA to move forward, with both the Democrat and Republican parties offering reactionary insurance, and only Peace & Freedom and Green Parties supporting universal healthcare, making it clear that we should only vote P&F or Green.

I know organizing security officers can be controversial - especially considering the role some security folks have played in breaking strikes, protests, etc., but I suggest you do more research into the security workers that are organizing in SEIU 24/7. Many of them are extremely low paid with no sick days or anything. This isn't Blackwater USA we're talking about here. These are working class folks - primarily black (I think I read that SEIU claims this is the largest national labor drive of African Americans ever... don't know if that's true, but ya never know... ) - trying to get dignity on their job and benefits to better support themselves and their families.

The idea of organizing security workers troubles me too, but I think it's important to try and keep an open mind about it. The trick would be to organize them in a way that they're accountable to the community and don't turn into a police power union - like the Prison Guard union of CA that pushes for the expansion of prisons so they can have more jobs. Whether this can be done, I don't know, but it looks like SEIU is doing a decent job. If you look (and listen) to a lot of these security workers protesting in SF right now, I don't get the impression that they're the type of folks we need to be worried about.. see some of their statements here: http://www.seiu247.org/

after all.. if security workers are in the labor movement... or even the same union (SEIU is the biggest union in the country) as workers on strike, isn't there a lot of potential for solidarity actions?

Regardless, I think this is a really interesting question. I'd love to see a debate/conversation between SEIU 24/7 and Critical Resistance. Seeing as they're organizing in the same communities, I don't think their differences would be that many.

too many ''security guards , of whatever ''race'' , seem to be prejudiced toward mixed race african americans. black or hispanic or asian ''security guards '' male or female , seem to not respect and often stare at mixed african men , like they dont want to recognize someone who doesent fit exactly one identifiable race.