For more than 2 years the Philadelphia Security Officers Union has been trying to improve the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Their calls for improved training, safety, worker retention, better wages and benefits have been ignored.

Today, due to all that is at risk, the museum guards broke their silence about the training deficiencies during a press conference on the "Rocky Step (read the KYW report here)."

Support the Philadelphia Security Officers Union in their "Program To Change The Museum" by signing this petition to City Council.

Please note, the What Would Picasso Say rally is rescheduled until February 25 from 4:30 to 6:00 pm at the West door (by Fairmont Park)

For years now, Jobs with Justice has been working with security guards in Philadelphia to professionalize this industry.

There are 16,000 security guards in our city. These jobs are among the most deadly in our city. In fact, only police officers are more often murdered on the job during violent incidents.

Despite that fact, security guards tend to earn poverty wages, lack access to quality health care and have few opportunities to career advancement. The guards that protect our city’s most precious cultural treasures earn a median income of $16,000 per year.

That’s why when security guards in our city reached out to Jobs with Justice wanting to fight to improve their lives and safety at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, we were excited to get involved.

The union is has a program to improve some pressing safety issues at the museum. Why, then, is Timothy Rub preventing these urgent safety upgrades?

Read more after the jump or at www.ThatFinalStraw.com

From this months Labor Notes...

Seventeen years after security guards at Philadelphia’s Museum of Art lost their union in a Democratic mayor’s privatization spree, they beat long odds in early October and voted in an independent union.

After two years of tough organizing, it's hard to believe that it has already been a week since security guards who work at the Philadelphia Museum of Art voted to join the Philadelphia Security Officers Union, by a vote of 68 to 55. Check out the anti-union comments !

Workers Regain Collective Bargaining Rights After 17 Years

The two year effort to form an independent labor union for the AlliedBarton security guards at the world famous Philadelphia Museum of Art finally resulted in a victory for the union this weekend. The formerly unionized guards lost their union in 1992 when the jobs were privatized by then Mayor Ed Rendell.

“It is hard for any group of workers to join a union,” says Cecelia Lynch, museum guard and union activist.

“But we knew that it was the only hope that we had to fix the problems that we faced on the job.” Further states Lynch.

It is rare and difficult for a group of workers to form their own union.

The newly formed Philadelphia Security Officers Union (PSOU) was created by guards from around the city and by the community organization Jobs with Justice over a two year period.

“We hope that AlliedBarton will now work with us to agree on a fair contract in a reasonable amount of time.” Says Fabricio Rodriguez, Executive Director of Jobs with Justice.

The union provides some hope to a growing segment of Philadelphia’s workforce, private security guards, which currently lack union representation and have few opportunities to join a union. There are an estimated 10,000 private security guard in the Philadelphia region.

Security guards are prevented from joining most labor unions due to the Section 9 (B) 3 of the National Labor Relations Act.

This clause of the National Labor Relations Act states that security guards must join “security guard only unions,” of which there are few.

From today's Inquirer by Stephen Salisbury

Security guards seeking to form a union at the Philadelphia Museum of Art have received some outside support from area political figures just days before a vote on the union is scheduled.

Letter City Councilors William Greenlee And Blondell Reynolds-Brown Tells Guards That City Law Protects Against Employer Claims

Leaders from the Philadelphia Security Officers Union (PSOU) expected their employer to warn that a vote for the union was a vote to loose their jobs. Union organizers hope that a letter from City Councilors William Greenlee and Blondell Reynolds-Brown that points out that even if the company decided to leave the contract behind, their jobs would be protected by the Philadelphia "Protection For Displaced Sub-Contractors" Law.

Security guard cheering on the Welcoming Change Party

For two years, guards at the Philadelphia Museum of Art have tried to win dignity for themselves and their families. But, they've been ignored.

Along with guards, thousands of JwJ supporters have let museum leaders and the employer, AlliedBarton, know that wages that fall below the Federal Poverty Guidelines, bad and expensive health care and inadequate training are not good enough for the men and women who protect our city's most priceless cultural treasures.

Have they heard us? No. We too have been ignored.

But not anymore. We're going to put 100 volunteer organizers into the museum to let the guards know they have the power to never be ignored again. Can you donate now to help Jobs with Justice get these organizers in the door? Click here: https://secure.ga3.org/08/PhillyDonate

It is almost unheard of that a group of workers will try to form an independent union. Having worked with these security guards for almost two years, having sat down with several labor unions without finding a home, after forcing museum leaders to give a few paid sick days to see them whittled away in the fine print, after writing letter after letter, making phone call after phone call to try to work with the museum leaders to lessen the horrible working conditions, the security officers at the Museum of Art have decided to try there hand at forming a new, independent, worker-led labor union.

Since the PSOU doesn't have the backing of an established labor union nor the resources, we will need the help of volunteers and activists who care about workers rights to pitch in. If you'd like to get involved, please contact me at 215-670-5855.

My press release from this morning...

Volunteers Panhandle To Help Timothy Rub Pay Its Security Bill

On Sunday, volunteers from Jobs with Justice stood outside the doors of the Philadelphia Museum of Art with paper cups and asked visitors for change, both figuratively and literally.

“Earlier this year, the Museum announced that it would not give its security guards their annual 25 cent per hour raise,” explained Fabricio Rodriguez, Executive Director of Philadelphia Jobs with Justice, “so we’re out here today asking for change. We are trying to earn their raise back for them – one quarter at a time.”

Video Message To Incoming Museum Director Highlights Worker Hardships And Hopes

Philadelphia, PA- A video being premiered tomorrow at 6:30 pm at Media Mobilizing Project, 4205 Chestnut St., is a direct message to Timothy Rub, the incoming director of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. It also addresses the national debate about the Employee Free Choice Act.

The video entitled, “Welcoming Change: A Message To Timothy Rub” features the voice of four security guards who are a part of a campaign to win work-place reforms at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

The director of Welcoming Change, David Randle says of the interviews that were filmed in parts of South West, North and West Philadelphia, “They are stories of hope. I was impressed by that even thought they earn such low wages.”

David Randle made his film as a member of the Media Mobilizing Project a community group that makes films about community activism.

The security officers at the Philadelphia Museum of Art have been holding out hope for improved working conditions for a long time. Thus far, they have they tried to communicate via the standard methods of written letters and phone calls, yet their requests remain unanswered. Finding themselves without much more recourse, they decided to translate their message into a language sympathetic to the ears of the museum leaders: art.

The security guards have come together to create a thirteen minute video addressed to Timothy Rub, the incoming Director of the Philadelphia Museum of Art (PMA), in the hopes that their voices, in this way, will finally break the silence.

On August 26, the film entitled "Welcoming Change: A Message To Timothy Rub," directed by David Stuart Randle from local media organization Media Mobilizing Project, will be released on the internet and will premier on screen at 4205 Chestnut St at 6:30 pm. The film will also be mailed to 100 local churches.

When the security officers at the Philadelphia Museum of Art have rallied against a recent roll back of their $.25 per hour raise, they could have never guessed that there modest cause could become an example of in a nation-wide debate over the Employee Free Choice Act. That is just what happened after an article by Sarah Jaffe appeared this week on the web-site of The Nation Magazine.

"The Philadelphia Museum of Art is a recognizable icon even to those who have never set foot in the city. Immortalized in the movie Rocky, when a sweatsuit-clad Sylvester Stallone bounded up the stairs while training for his big fight, the museum became a symbol of the working-class tenacity that Philadelphians are known for.

On September 6, those steps will host a different kind of blue-collar battle: the museum security guards will be holding a rally in support of the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) and their right to form a union.

The debate over the Employee Free Choice Act is going to heat up in the next couple of weeks. In Philadelphia, there is an effort that stands out as an example of why we need to pass this critical labor law reform.