Baltimore security guards allegedly fired as retaliation for strike

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Security guards for a Baltimore City contractor have filed unfair labor practices charges against their employer, alleging retaliation after they went on strike.

The nonunionized workers allege that Hyattsville-based Metropolitan Protective Services retaliated after they went on strike last month alongside security guards for other city contractors.

The charges were filed this month with the National Labor Relations Board by 32BJ SEIU, even though the workers are not members of the union.

Metropolitan Protective Services employs 70 workers who protect 10 public housing complexes operated by the Housing Authority of Baltimore City. The company allegedly fired at least seven workers, imposed new rules with no notice and stopped bringing local workers’ paychecks to Baltimore, requiring them to travel more than 30 miles to get paid.

A spokesperson for Mayor Brandon Scott declined to comment. Metropolitan Protective Services and the Housing Authority did not respond to requests for comment.

Last month, workers for the company went on a one-day strike, rallying at Baltimore City Hall alongside security guards for other city contractors.

One fired worker was Victoria Cox, who worked at Westport Homes in South Baltimore. At work, she dealt with shootings, domestic violence and break-ins. She was fired, according to a Friday news release, because she ate lunch in her car one day. In another case, according to the union, a worker was fired for performing her security rounds in her car, rather than on foot.

“Now, especially after the strike, management is suddenly enforcing alleged new rules,” Cox stated in the news release from 32BJ SEIU, which has 190,000 members in 12 states and about 1,700 in Baltimore.

“We go through a lot and put our life on the line,” Cox said. “Before the strike, management never disciplined me or treated these issues as violations.”

In March, Scott signed a bill raising security guards’ pay, which currently starts at $18.50 per hour, according to the city Department of Finance. With a markup for overhead and profit, the city pays $27.40 for guards. The new law would raise their pay to a minimum of $24.37 per hour, with most of the raise going to health and welfare benefits. The bill, which takes effect next year, is expected to add $820,000 in recurring costs to the city.

Julie Karant, a spokesperson for 32BJ SEIU, said the law is significant but isn’t “helpful for officers who are getting harassed and fired!”