Wackenhut Security Guard Charged With Shortchanging Liberty Bell Security Officers Miami

    PHILADELPHIA, July 3 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- U.S. Senator Bob Casey (D-PA) has urged Interior Department Secretary, Dirk Kempthorne to re-examine business dealings with Wackenhut Corporation, the federal government's largest private security contractor for some of the nation's most sensitive sites, including federal nuclear installations, public transit systems, and the Liberty Bell itself.     In a letter to Secretary Kempthorne, Senator Casey states: "It is important that federal contractors like Wackenhut benefiting from taxpayer dollars and protecting our country's vital interests demonstrate fairness toward their employees and support efforts to raise the standards of the security profession to the highest level possible. Please let me know what steps you have taken to ensure that Wackenhut performs at levels benefiting our government's largest private security contractor, including respecting the rights of its employees to form a union. I will be monitoring this situation in the coming days and weeks."     Wackenhut has been under mounting pressure as Presidential hopefuls, Barack Obama, John Edwards and Hillary Clinton have also sent letters to company executives, echoing a call on the company to end its practice of resisting employees' efforts to raise the standards of the security profession by forming a union with the Service Employees International Union and Local 32BJ.     Charles Wilson, a Wackenhut security officer who protects the Liberty Bell, recently filed a federal wage an hour complaint against the company accusing Wackenhut of shortchanging employees of at least 14 cents an hour in fringe benefits. Under federal law, Wackenhut was mandated to pay employees at the Liberty Bell site $3.01 per hour in such benefits since June 2006, but the company was only paying workers $2.87.     "14 cents an hour is pocket change for a billion dollar company like Wackenhut, but it makes a huge difference for their workers who are trying to support their families," said Wayne MacManiman, Local 32BJ's Mid-Atlantic Chairman. "While everyone agrees that security officers are vital first responders in emergencies, six years after 9/11, much more needs to be done to raise wages and industry standards."     Last year, following allegations of security breaches, including an anthrax scare, the Department of Homeland Security decided to replace Wackenhut with a new security contractor at its headquarters in Washington, D.C. In December 2006, the National Labor Relations Board ruled that Wackenhut illegally threatened and interrogated security officers who sought to form a union with SEIU at the headquarters of the IMF in Washington, D.C.     The City of Los Angeles recently acknowledged that it is launching an investigation into security contractor Wackenhut Corporation/G4S' compliance with the city's Responsible Contractor Policy, a probe that could result in debarment from city contracts for five years. Prior to the investigation, Wackenhut had more than $5 million annually in contracts with the City of Los Angeles to guard at least two dozen buildings and public places including Los Angeles City Hall East, and Mount Lee -- the home of the famous Hollywood sign. In addition to launching the investigation, Los Angeles did not select Wackenhut for future city work worth up to an estimated $20 million over three years. Wackenhut Corporation formerly had the largest piece of this city account.     Wackenhut has also been the subject of an ongoing investigation by the NBC affiliate in Miami regarding allegations that Wackenhut billed Miami-Dade County taxpayers for work that was not performed. According to NBC 6, Miami-Dade County has fined Wackenhut over $223,000 since 2006 for failing to have enough officers on duty. In addition, Miami-Dade is conducting a full-scale audit of Wackenhut -- according to a preliminary version of the audit, which covers 2003 to 2005, Wackenhut may owe the County as much as $12.1 million, although Wackenhut insists that the preliminary audit is incorrect.     With more than 85,000 members in six states, including 5,000 in Philadelphia, Local 32BJ is the largest property services union in the country..by prnewswire

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