Newark Council To Housing Authority: Give Workers’ Jobs Back

NEWARK, NJ — Good employees deserve jobs with equally good pay and benefits. And that’s why the Newark Housing Authority (NHA) needs to put dozens of security officers who lost their positions earlier this year back to work, a City Council resolution says.

On Wednesday, the council passed a resolution that urged the agency to change their prevailing wage and benefit standards and make sure about 30 contracted security guards get their jobs back. (Read the full text below)

The security officers are members of labor union 32BJ SEIU, which has been supporting them in their ongoing dispute with the NHA.

The dust-up dates back to June, when the NHA chose to discontinue its contract with Allied Universal Security Services, a company that paid $12.50 an hour and provided health insurance for employees with no co-premium.

The NHA then awarded security contracts to two non-union companies: Pro Cops Security Services and Prime Security Services.

• See related article: Union, Newark Housing Authority Clash After Workers Lose Jobs

After the decision, 60 subcontracted security officers with the NHA lost their wage and benefits rates, as Pro Cops and Prime pay $12 hour. In addition, more than 30 security officers – all Newark residents – found themselves out of work, the city council resolution states.

The resolution urged the NHA to do three things:

• “See that all former NHA security officers are offered work at NHA and none lose his/her job solely due to a change of contractors”
• “Enact a policy requiring the same prevailing wage and benefit standards for its contractors as the City of Newark does”
• “Enact a policy protecting displaced workers who are discharged without cause when a contract changes hands as the City of Newark does”

“With this resolution, we are sending a clear message that the NHA needs to do right by these security officers and rehire them, while creating good, sustainable jobs,” Crump asserted.

Marilyn Mars, a security officer who lost her job due to the change, agreed.

“Many NHA security officers live at NHA buildings or live in Newark,” Mars said. “The NHA’s decision had devastating consequences for many of us, including myself. We need this policy to protect our jobs— after all, we are the people who keep the NHA safe.”

32BJ SEIU New Jersey State Director Kevin Brown called the NHA’s contracting swap a “cruel blow to the community” and praised Wednesday’s move from the city council.

“This resolution urges the Newark Housing Authority to do the right thing and put workers back on the job, with the good jobs they deserve,” Brown said. “We thank [Council President] Mildred Crump and the council as a whole for supporting this important resolution to get jobs back for the officers and for creating a definite pathway for worker justice.”

Brown said the union plans to continue the fight until “justice has been served” and the NHA recognizes prevailing wage and benefit standards that the City of Newark already recognizes.

“Newark needs to support working families, not tear them down,” Brown concluded.

Story continues below

‘RIDDLED WITH INACCURACIES AND FALSE FACTS’

On Wednesday, NHA Executive Director Victor Cirilo blasted the union’s allegations and the council resolution, which he said is riddled with inaccuracies and false facts.

Cirilo added that he was “saddened” by a recent interaction he had with Brown.

“We met earlier today and we had an agreement to assist his members to once again reclaim their positions at the NHA after they had been abandoned by SEIU and Allied Universal,” Cirilo told Patch on Wednesday.

“Unfortunately, Mr. Brown lives in a fantasy world where he has to get his personal way and took it upon himself to author this resolution while forgetting what truly matters, which are the hardworking men and women,” Cirilo said.

“The Housing Authority extended a multi-million dollar security contract to Allied Universal and 32BJ SEIU to provide security services,” Cirilo continued. “Unfortunately, the company and Mr. Kevin Brown could not honor the contract, causing dozens of employees to lose their jobs. While SEIU sat on their hands, the Housing Authority has hired some of the displaced workers and held a job fair for the remaining workers which are being prioritized. Compensation will be the same and equal to what extended by Allied Universal and 32BJ SEIU.”

Cirilo provided Patch with a letter he wrote to Crump in August before the council passed its resolution, explaining the NHA’s reasoning behind their decision. (Read the full letter below)

According to the agency’s website, the NHA has 45 developments in almost every neighborhood in the City of Newark. This includes 10 elderly/disabled and 34 family developments.

Brown offered the following response to Cirilo's statements on Thursday:

"The NHA has not meaningfully provided the affected workers with a pathway to justice, nor has the NHA agreed to pay workers the prevailing wage and benefit standards that the City of Newark already recognizes. The Newark Housing Authority needs to enact a policy that ensures contracted workers are protected by recognizing prevailing wages and benefits and hiring back the workers. The City Council agrees; the only party left to cooperate is the Newark Housing Authority."

Cirilo offered the following rebuttal:

"Justice will be served when SEIU Local 32BJ and Kevin Brown truly work hard to represent these workers by forcing their partner Allied Universal Security to honor their multi million dollar contract with the housing authority and get these workers their jobs back. The jobs at the housing authority are waiting. Everything else is Kevin Brown gibberish as innocent workers are being hurt."

READ THE RESOLUTION

The full text of the city council resolution passed on Dec. 4 follows below.

Type of Service: Resolution to the Newark Housing Authority

Purpose: Urging the Newark Housing Authority to ensure that its former security officers are offered work and to pass policies strengthening protections from displacement and wage and benefit standards.

WHEREAS, the Municipal Council of the City of Newark has learned that the Newark Housing Authority does not require bidders to adhere to prevailing wage and benefit standards; and

WHEREAS, in June 2019, Newark Housing Authority terminated its contract with Allied Universal Security Services, LLC, a company which paid $12.50 an hour and provided health insurance for employees with no co-premium and other fringe benefits; and

WHEREAS, the work formerly performed by Allied was given to Pro Cops and Prime Security and as a result 60 Newark Housing Authority subcontracted security officers lost their wage and benefits rates as Pro Cops and Prime pays $12.00/hour; and

WHEREAS, at least 30 experienced security officers, lost their jobs; and

WHEREAS, these workers now face economic hardship and the Newark Housing Authority has lost experienced workers who knew the neighborhoods and residents; and

WHEREAS, the Municipal Council of the City Newark has adopted prevailing wage and benefit standards, as well as displaced worker protection, for its own contracting and believes that all Newark residents should have good family-sustaining jobs;

WHEREAS, prevailing wage and benefit standards are essential to recruit and retain high quality workers who can provide the security services desperately needed by Newark residents.

NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED BY THE MUNICIPAL COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF NEWARK, that it strongly urges the Newark Housing Authority:

1. to see that all former NHA security officers are offered work at NHA and none lose his/her job solely due to a change of contractors;

2. to enact a policy requiring the same prevailing wage and benefit standards for its contractors as the City of Newark does; and

3. to enact a policy protecting displaced workers who are discharged without cause when a contract changes hands as the City of Newark does.

‘SAFE AND DECENT AFFORDABLE HOUSING OPTIONS’

The full text of Cirilo’s Aug. 7 letter to Crump follows below.

“The Housing Authority has reviewed the proposed enclosed resolution which urges the Housing Authority to undertake certain personnel actions regarding its security officer program. As you know, the Housing Authority is bound by the requirements of Local Ordinance 18:5-1, which sets forth security coverage at multi-family complexes of over 100 units. The Housing Authority is a Federal agency with capped rents at 30% of the monthly adjusted family income, which makes it a financial struggle to comply with the regulation, nevertheless it does so for an aggregate amount of $5.2 million dollars. In addition, the Housing Authority spends approximately $1.5 million in additional funds for investigators, supervisory personnel and a pilot program with the City of Newark Police Department. Of note, it is important to note that between 80 % to 90% of the personnel are City of Newark residents. Lastly, the Housing Authority was found to be in “Troubled” status by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) for years 2016 and 2017. As a condition, HUD has required the Housing Authority to enter into a Recovery Agreement signed by the Board of Commissioners and Mayor Ras J. Baraka which requires that it significantly cut back on security expenditures and caps the amount to $4 million dollars. The lack of flexibility on raising rents plus cut backs by the Federal government makes it difficult for the Housing Authority to invest more into its security program.

“The Housing Authority solicited new bids for security services early this year. The responders for unarmed security guards were Gateway Security ($21.45 an hour), Pro-Cop Security ($18.00 an hour), Prime Security ($24.00 an hour – cut back to $19), and Allied Universal ($17.53) an hour. The Housing Authority believed that these rates were favorable to our budget and a fair wage to our security guards. Gateway Security and Allied Universal are also members of SEIU Local 32BJ and while Pro-Cop and Prime are not, the Housing Authority did meet with the principals to encourage negotiations with Local 32BJ. Once approved by the Board of Commissioners, Allied Universal send notice to the Housing Authority that they were no longer interested in honoring their contract. The Housing Authority had no choice, but to assign more coverage to the other entities (We were hoping that Local 32BJ would do right by its membership and force Allied Universal to honor their contractual obligations under their collective bargaining agreement). The remaining companies reached out to the displaced guards and after assessing personnel a large percentage was hired.

“The enclosed resolution erroneously states that the Newark Housing Authority terminated its contract with Allied Universal. That is false, in fact we are considering legal action to force the Local 32BJ member to honor its contract and assure that no-one loses their job. Since the Newark Housing Authority does not directly hire the guards, we would be interested on a list with contact information from Local 32BJ of any security guard (30 mentioned in the letter) that lost their job due to Allied Universal being allowed to walk off the job.

“The Housing Authority is not only interested in extending safe and decent affordable housing options for its clients, but also assist in the stimulation and job creation of the local economy to the highest extent possible. While significant Federal cutbacks along with a “Troubled” status recovery agreement precludes us from doing more, we feel that we have been able to maximize our ability through our existing commitments. The Housing Authority would encourage SEIU Local 32BJ to force Allied Universal to honor their contract with the Housing Authority under their joint collective bargaining agreement and get these families back to work. The Housing Authority would accommodate the company. In addition, we would also request that SEIU Local 32BJ negotiate further with Prime Security and Pro-Cop to in order to provide more options for their membership.

“I hope that this background is helpful in explaining the Housing Authority’s perspective and also clears out some of the erroneous factual content in the draft resolution. We are committed to our local residents and our friends in organized labor, however hard work is needed on both sides so that we wholeheartedly and effectively represent our working families. Thank you for your time and consideration of our perspective. We look forward to further discussing this matter with your office and rest of the City Council members.”

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