Security guards at Kaiser hospitals to strike

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.bizjournals.com/eastbay/stories/2008/03/31/daily9.html

Monday, March 31, 2008 - 2:05 PM PDT

Security guards employed by Inter-Con Security Systems at Kaiser Permanente facilities in Northern California are planning a 24-hour strike Friday, according to officials with the Service Employees International Union Local 24/7.

According to SEIU, about 1,500 of these security workers have been working for the last two years to join the union and they've been met by "threats" and "intimidation" from Inter-Con.

SEIU Local 24/7 is not a member of the Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions or the Labor Management Partnership and the guards are not Kaiser employees, according to a spokeswoman for Kaiser, Gerri Ginsburg.

The union will also be holding pickets throughout the week:

* at 2 :30 p.m. Tuesday at Kaiser South Sacramento Medical Center.
* at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday at Kaiser Hayward Medical Center.
* from 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Friday at Kaiser South Sacramento Medical Center.
* at 4:30 p.m. Friday at Kaiser's national headquarters in Oakland.

Catherine Ross, a spokeswoman with Inter-Con in Pasadena, said that the company had no comment.