Google Shamed Into Paying Their Security Guards a Living Wage

Kevin Montgomery
http://valleywag.gawker.com/google-shamed-into-paying-their-security-guards-a-livin-1642110689/+laceydonohue

For years, companies like Google and Apple have outsourced their security operations, ensuring their campus guards take home low wages while programmers earn top dollar. But following worker protests and unfavorable media coverage, the search giant has announced it's dropping its security contractor and bringing the Googleplex guards in-house.

Google will be hiring 200 guards to protect its Northern California offices when its contract with Security Industry Specialists ends November 1st. The company says it will focus on employing those workers full-time, the Mountain View Voice reports.

"Building an in-house security team is something we are excited to do," said a Google spokesperson in a statement. "This is a process we started over a year ago and are looking forward to making these valued positions both full- and part-time Google employees. We value the work of the security professionals who keep our campuses safe and making sure they're well-taken care of is very important to us."

The Service Employees International Union, which has 40,000 security guard members nationwide, held a protest of SIS at Google headquarters in June of 2013. SEIU conducted a survey that found that 80 percent of Google's SIS security guards were only offered part-time work. One of them was Manny Cardenas, who told the Voice that despite his $16 an hour pay, he was sometimes scheduled only one day a week and took home only $1,000 a month in pay, with no health benefits for himself or his daughter.