Security guards from a Warwick firm are trying to form a union after alleged intimidation

Security officers with Warwick firm USENTRA rallied on Tuesday for the creation of a union despite alleged intimidation on the part of management.

About two dozen employees gathered outside the Providence Community Health Centers complex on Prairie Avenue, one of the main locations security staff are sent. However, they also work in Brown University buildings, The Providence Journal printing plant, and other locations.

Sagno Almamy, who emigrated from Guinea in 2009 and started working with USENTRA in 2018, is one of the staffers who has been stationed at the printing plant, along with factories and hospitals.

Almamy, who is 70 years old and said he sometimes works significantly more than 40 hours a week, said he has no health insurance and makes differing wages based on the location he is posted.

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At the PCHC complex, he makes $14 to $16 an hour, whereas at the printing plant, he makes $12.25 an hour, he told The Journal. He does, however, make overtime.

"That's one of the problems," said Franklin Soults, a spokesperson for the Service Employees International Union, Local 32BJ. "They never know how much they're going to be getting."

The union's membership, which totals more than 175,000, is heavily centered in the Northeast, and it is the largest property service workers union in the country. If USENTRA security officers are successful in their effort to unionize, they would become part of the organization.

Pedro Araujo, a USENTRA employee, echoed concerns over pay. He is stationed at the University Market Place shopping complex on North Main Street, which houses a Whole Foods store, Starbucks, Staples, and other shops. His job is to drive a car around the plaza for security, though he said he is paid the same $13 hourly rate regardless if he works a weekday, a weekend, or a holiday.

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Now, the SEIU, Local 32BJ has filed charges against USENTRA with the National Labor Relations Board, claiming that the business has violated workers' rights by instructing them not to talk about their work outside the company. Dan Nicolai, the union's New England district leader, alleges that USENTRA also "interrogated" and intimidated workers, phoning multiple employees, and asking about conversations regarding unions.

Nicolai said efforts to reach USENTRA's management to talk about organizing have been unsuccessful. Nicolai said security officers traveled to the company's offices with a petition, and the union reached out to the company via phone, but there was no response.

The Journal called USENTRA Senior Vice President Michael Brugnoli for comment, but he directed The Journal to the company's owner, Ben Lupovitz, who did not answer the phone. A message was left.

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: USENTRA security guards rally to join union after alleged intimidation