Demand That Movie Studios Protect Their Security Guards

Companies hire security guards to protect their buildings from harm. But who's there to protect the security guards from workers' rights violations?

In the Hollywood film industry, the answer is simple: no one. Although the film industry raked in more money in 2009 than ever before, its security guards are still being paid poverty wages and treated unfairly.

Why would an industry renowned for its above-average employee wages and steady financial success refuse to pay its security workers more than $11 an hour and ignore established labor laws? According to a new report by the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), the real blame lies with Andrews International, America's largest domestically-owned, full-service private security company. Andrews International is Hollywood's main security provider, tasked with ensuring that the studios, which are major burglary targets, remain safe with inventories intact. Take a stand by telling the company's two biggest clients, Fox Searchlight and Sony Pictures, to take the dramatic step of supporting their security guards.

Hollywood security guards monitor major film studios 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. For this work, the average employee can expect to earn less than $25,000 a year (keep in mind that L.A.'s cost of living is about 50 percent more than the national average). Furthermore, SEIU reports that many guards lack the proper training to carry out their assigned duties. Rogelio Garcia, an Andrews employee who has been working at Fox Searchlight for the past two years, told SEIU he'd never been given hands-on training at all. "Andrews' branch managers tell Fox they don't have money to pay old guards to train new guards," he said.

Yet for all its supposed financial problems, Andrews International has enough money to acquire other security companies, most recently taking over A&S Security in late January. And it isn't stopping there; as Randy Andrews, CEO, recently told Security Director News, "We have plans for other acquisitions in the next couple months in areas that we need a larger footprint."

Andrews International also has enough money to pay millions of dollars in settlements, penalties and fines after repeatedly violating employees' rights. Here's my personal favorite: in 2005, a security worker sued Andrews' predecessor, Advanced Tech Security Services, for demanding that guards work off the clock and -- get this -- destroying employee time cards before pay day. The company settled for $815,000.

But wait, there's more. Since most Hollywood security guards tend to be African-American or Latino, Andrews' irresponsible tactics don't just drive poor L.A. residents further into poverty -- they exacerbate the city's racial inequalities (currently, the average black or Latino family income is two-thirds less than its white counterpart).

Of course, Andrews International refuses to apologize for its conduct, instead claiming that SEIU's efforts to protect security guards are simply "tactics of intimidation and misrepresentation." But what Andrews calls intimidation, I call "workers' rights advocacy."

Let's do our part in standing up to Andrews International and the Hollywood studios that turn a blind eye to its policies. Sign the petition demanding accountability from Andrews' Hollywood studio clients.

For more info, visit InsecureWithAndrews.org.

Photo credit: griff le riff