Offices of large technology companies in the United States may be affected by a security professional strike scheduled for this week in California. Workers who provide services to giants like Google and OpenAI plan to suspend their shifts starting Friday.
The main reason for the movement lies in the deadlock in discussions regarding a new collective agreement. The guards demand higher wages, better health conditions, and a more comprehensive professional training program.
The union SEIU-UWWW formalized a strike notice with 72 hours' advance warning on Tuesday. If the strike is confirmed, employees should not fulfill the shifts starting at 4:30 AM on Friday. This union represents approximately 14,000 security professionals in California, whose duties include protecting the facilities of large technology corporations.
The potential strike could result in office closures or the implementation of remote work. Although companies in the San Francisco Bay Area have not yet announced new measures, Anthropic had already adopted such a precaution at the end of August. Employees in San Francisco were instructed to work from home for two days after Allied Universal, the security service provider, alerted about the possibility of their teams going on strike.
Negotiations for a new contract agreement have been ongoing for several months. On one side are the workers represented by the union, and on the other, companies such as Allied, Securitas, and GardaWorld, which are responsible for security services. The workers insist on salary increases, improvements in health conditions, and broader training.
On Tuesday, the union also planned to hold a demonstration through downtown San Francisco up to the Salesforce Tower. Permission for the strike was granted during a protest held in the city on September 3rd.