Security guard training bill strengthens the role of unions in California

Unions representing private security guards would get a new advantage in organizing under California legislation that would force companies to enter into labor contracts if the firms want to provide use-of-force training.

State Senator Lola Smallud-Cuevas‘ Senate Bill 1203 is also looking to raise security guards’ pay, and that will require their companies to offer more rigorous training.

Smallwood-Cuevas, a Democrat from Los Angeles, said security guards earn an average of about $44,000 a year. the state poverty lineeven though their companies generate about $34 billion in revenue. She said guards were also being asked to take on increasingly dangerous roles without sufficient training.

“This bill requires us to stand up to these employees to strengthen and improve these working conditions and ensure that throughout California we not only improve safety, but also help build a pathway to safety for workers in this sector.” Malwood-Cuevas said the Senate Committee on Business, Professions and Economic Development last week.

The committee voted to advance her bill to the Senate Public Safety Committee, which is scheduled to take up the measure on Tuesday.

Security companies say the measure would add at least $1 billion to their costs each year and lead to fewer security guards protecting the public.

“California leads the nation in terms of training requirements, and we applaud that,” Dean Grafilloa lobbyist for the private security firm Allied Universal told the committee. “However, this bill goes much further than is necessary or reasonable, and we simply cannot ignore the staggering financial burden this bill will place on our industry and, by extension, on California.”

There are about 330,000 private security officers in California, making the industry one of the largest workforces in the state, Smallwood-Cuevas said. California businesses and local governments are increasingly hiring security guards to protect them from robberies and other crimes. Security firms will also be called upon for this year’s World Cup games in Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area, the 2027 Super Bowl in Inglewood and the 2028 Olympics in California.

The measure, according to the business committee’s analysis, would expand training standards, increase annual training for security guards and require companies to compensate security guards for time spent in training.

It would allow companies to provide “powers of arrest” and training in the use of force only if agreed in union contracts. These agreements would require workers to earn at least 30% above those in California $16.90 minimum wage and you get overtime.

The bill would also require state regulators to review and set minimum wages for security guards by 2028. Security industry representatives say even a $1-an-hour increase for security workers would add $750 million to their costs each year.

“SB 1203 will eliminate jobs that will make companies seeking to automate security functions more competitive, thereby displacing the very people the bill intends to help,” wrote David Chandler, president of the California Association of Licensed Security Agencies, Security Guards and Associates, in a letter to lawmakers.

Labor is a powerful Capitol force

The bill is the latest effort by unions to use legislative power to pressure companies to allow unionization. The most notable recent effort was a multiyear legislative push that successfully obtained ride-sharing companies to support legislation allowing their drivers to unionize.

About 20 percent of private security guards are unionized, according to the industry, slightly more than the rest of the state’s workforce, where about 15% of workers are unionized.

Unions have huge influence in the legislature, which is largely due to the money they spend on the political campaigns of Democratic lawmakers. Unions also deploy their networks of organizers to defend their chosen candidates.

Service Employees International Unionsponsor of the bill, is perhaps the most influential labor organization in the state. The union and its affiliates have donated at least $21.4 million to lawmakers’ campaigns since 2015, according to CalMatters Digital Democracy Database.

Meanwhile, 33 of the Legislature’s 120 members are current or former union members, according to the California Federation of Labor.

Some, like Smallwood-Cuevas, worked for the unions that would benefit from their legislation.

Before entering politics, Smolud-Cuevas once works as an organizer for a local SEIU affiliate that unionizes security workers. Her campaigns have received at least $119,100 from SEIU and its affiliates since 2021, according to Digital Democracy.

The Committee supports the Trade Union Bill

The union’s political clout, as well as lawmakers’ sympathies for low-wage workers doing dangerous work, were on display last week in the Business and Professions Committee. None of the committee members voted against the bill.

Sen. Bob Archuletaa Democrat representing Norwalk asked Smallwood-Cuevas if he could be added to the bill as a token co-sponsor.

“We use the term ‘first responders,'” he told the committee. “Sometimes it is these people and individuals like them who are the first to respond.”

Archuleta, a former reserve officer with the Montebello Police Department, said he used to come to crime scenes and “of course there was a security officer there,” telling police, “I’ve got your back.”

Archuleta’s campaign has received at least $79,600 from SEIU and its affiliates, according to Digital Democracy.

One Democrat on the Business Committee expressed concern.

Sen. Caroline Menjivara Democrat representing the Van Nuys area said she had no problem with the bill’s intent to raise security guards’ wages. After all, she said she worked five years as a security guard.

But she said she believes the training requirements in the bill duplicate or would repeal a law the Legislature passed last year regarding standards and training for security personnel.

She said there are also concerns that requirements in the bill could prevent companies from hiring qualified training consultants because of restrictions limiting who is authorized to do the work.

“Currently, there are certain retired police officers that security companies approach to provide this training,” she said. “And they will no longer be given that opportunity.”

Despite her concerns, she did not vote on the bill, instead officially voting no.

like CalMatters reportedlegislators regularly avoid tough votes, opting instead to vote “no” to avoid the wrath of powerful lobbying organizations.

Menjivar’s campaign received at least $16,900 from SEIU, according to secretary of state records.

“There were provisions within SB 1203 that she liked, and a firm no would send a signal that there is nothing the author or sponsors can do to get her to vote yes down the line,” Menjivar’s spokeswoman, Theodora Reyes, said in an email.