Thousands of Bay Area, SoCal security guards at major retailers and tech giants begin strike

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- Nearly 14,000 union security officers across California began striking Friday morning in a labor dispute over pay, benefits, training and alleged unfair labor practices.

The officers, represented by SEIU United Service Workers West, began striking at 4:30 a.m. across the San Francisco Bay Area and Los Angeles.

The strike affects security personnel assigned to a range of businesses, from San Francisco-based Anthropic to luxury retailers.

The guards work for contractors including Allied Universal, Securitas, PalAmerican, GardaWorld, Prosegur and others. According to the union, they provide security at facilities connected to companies including Amazon, Microsoft, Salesforce, OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, Meta, Nvidia, Cisco and Netflix, as well as retailers, hospitals and transit hubs.

The union says workers are seeking better pay, retirement benefits, health care and improved training. It says several large security contractors offered workers a $0.65 raise over the next two years.

Guards are often among the first to confront theft, violence and threats while on the job.

According to research cited by the union from UC Berkeley, more than two-thirds of Bay Area security guards are low-wage workers. The workers' median pay is about $20 per hour, less than half of what a typical Bay Area worker earns. The research also found that about 80% of guards do not make enough to cover basic living needs.

About 100 security guards rallied in downtown San Francisco on Thursday, where workers picketed and held signs.

"We hear stories about the lavishness and the wealth that security officers experience and that is a huge contrast with the sometimes poverty that that officers are facing," SEIU-USWW Vice President Sanjay Garla said. "Struggling to pay bills, make ends meet, struggling to even put food on the table for themselves and their families, and afford the rents here in the Bay area. So this is a daily insult to security officers. And it's what's pushed them to take action against the companies that employ them."

A striking security guard who works in San Francisco said workers are not adequately compensated for protecting valuable properties.

"We're guarding multibillion buildings, and we're getting, like, a small fraction of what we believe we deserve to get paid," Max Garibay said.

Garibay said workers put their lives on the line as part of their jobs but feel they are being disrespected.

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Garla said the workers play a critical role in public safety.

"It's part of public safety. And these are folks that are securing the some of the wealthiest corporations and in the world, we got folks securing Apple, Google, meta," Garla said.

The strike comes as security concerns around some Bay Area technology companies have intensified.

In April, security confronted a man accused of attacking OpenAI CEO Sam Altman's San Francisco home. Days later, a security guard at Anthropic reportedly stopped a man carrying a threat against an executive.

Anthropic told employees in its San Francisco offices to prepare to work from home because of strike-related security concerns.

The union representing the striking workers is scheduled to participate in mediation beginning at 8 a.m. Thursday. Striking workers also planned a march through downtown San Francisco beginning at 10 a.m. Thursday.

ABC7 Eyewitness News reached out to several security companies for comment.

Allied Universal responded with the following statement:

"While we do not comment on ongoing labor negotiations, our priority remains supporting our employees and delivering for our clients. We continue to closely monitor the situation and remain focused on maintaining safe and reliable operations."

Inter-Con Security also responded, saying:

"We at Inter-Con Security are aware of the impending strike by the SEIU-USWW against several of the other large security employers in California. Inter-Con is not involved in this strike, and SEIU-USWW leadership has confirmed in writing that our operations will not be impacted. We are deeply proud of the strong, positive relationship we share with the SEIU-USWW, which is rooted in the competitive wages and comprehensive benefits we provide our officers. Inter-Con has never experienced a strike in our 53-year history, and we remain fully committed to sustaining this partnership and labor harmony moving forward."