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Baltimore Security Officers Fired and Removed from Schedules After Lawful Strike · The Real News Podcast

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Ah, I Got work.
• 0:05
  Speaker 2: Oh right.
• 0:06
  Speaker 3: Welcome everyone to Working People, a podcast about the lives, jobs,
• 0:11
  Speaker 3: dreams and struggles of the working class today. Working People
• 0:14
  Speaker 3: is a proud member of the Labor Radio Podcast Network
• 0:17
  Speaker 3: and has brought to you in partnership within These Times
• 0:20
  Speaker 3: magazine and the Real News Network. This show is produced
• 0:23
  Speaker 3: by Jules Taylor and made possible by the support of
• 0:26
  Speaker 3: listeners like you. My name is Maximilian Alvarez, and today
• 0:31
  Speaker 3: we've got an important follow up to a story here
• 0:34
  Speaker 3: in Baltimore that we reported on back in April.
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: To refresh your guys' memory.
• 0:39
  Speaker 3: On April ninth, nearly a year after workers voted to
• 0:42
  Speaker 3: authorize a strike, non union city and commercially contracted security
• 0:47
  Speaker 3: officers in Baltimore walked off the job on an unfair
• 0:50
  Speaker 3: labor practice strike against their employers, Abacus Corporation, Metropolitan Protective
• 0:56
  Speaker 3: Services and Urban Development Solutions IIKE involved security guards stationed
• 1:02
  Speaker 3: at city and commercial sites around Baltimore, including Harbor East,
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  Speaker 3: the Water Treatment Facility, the Able Woolman Building, police stations,
• 1:10
  Speaker 3: and housing developments, among others. In what has been a protracted,
• 1:15
  Speaker 3: years long effort to unionize with the service employees International
• 1:19
  Speaker 3: Union Local thirty two BJ. Workers have been fighting for
• 1:23
  Speaker 3: more job security, better pay, accessible healthcare, and safer working conditions.
• 1:28
  Speaker 3: And in the episode that we published just before the strike,
• 1:31
  Speaker 3: I got to talk about all of that with Laura Dixon,
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  Speaker 3: a veteran security officer in ABACUS employee in Jimi Contreres,
• 1:39
  Speaker 3: executive vice president of SCIU Local thirty two BJ, And
• 1:43
  Speaker 3: today we're talking about the latest infuriating update from this story.
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  Speaker 3: On Friday, May twenty second, I got a press email
• 1:51
  Speaker 3: from SIU Local thirty two BJ with the title city
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  Speaker 3: security officers fired and threatened after going on strike according
• 1:58
  Speaker 3: to labor charges fire filed against city contractor. Now, according
• 2:02
  Speaker 3: to the union quote, non union security officers have filed
• 2:06
  Speaker 3: unfair labor practice charges alleging their employer, city contractor Metropolitan
• 2:11
  Speaker 3: Protective Services, fired and harassed workers following a lawful strike
• 2:15
  Speaker 3: that took place on Thursday, April ninth. MPs, which employs
• 2:19
  Speaker 3: at least seventy officers who protect ten public housing units
• 2:23
  Speaker 3: run by the Baltimore Housing Authority, among other sites, receives
• 2:27
  Speaker 3: fifteen million dollars from the Baltimore Housing Authority and six
• 2:30
  Speaker 3: million dollars from the Maryland Department of General Services. Starting
• 2:34
  Speaker 3: the day after officers went on strike, MPs also stopped
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  Speaker 3: bringing paychecks to Baltimore from their Hyattsville headquarters and instead
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  Speaker 3: required officers to drive over thirty miles to Hyattsville, creating
• 2:46
  Speaker 3: a new barrier between officers and access to their pay.
• 2:50
  Speaker 3: Seven officers reported losing their jobs or being removed from
• 2:54
  Speaker 3: their schedule for actions that MPs permitted prior to the strike,
• 2:58
  Speaker 3: including Victoria Cox for simply eating lunch in her car
• 3:02
  Speaker 3: after two years on the job protecting Westport Housing in
• 3:05
  Speaker 3: South Baltimore, where Cox dealt with domestic violence, break ins,
• 3:09
  Speaker 3: and shootings. After the strike, in early April, an MPs
• 3:13
  Speaker 3: supervisor interrogated an officer over union involvement and told the
• 3:17
  Speaker 3: officer that he could lose his job. Multiple officers also
• 3:21
  Speaker 3: reported being interrogated by a supervisor after their participation in
• 3:25
  Speaker 3: the lawful strike end quote. So, as part of my
• 3:28
  Speaker 3: journalistic due diligence, I reached out to MPs for comment
• 3:32
  Speaker 3: on these allegations, and I received a reply from CEO
• 3:35
  Speaker 3: and President of MPs, Derek Parks, which says, in part quote,
• 3:40
  Speaker 3: Metropolitan Protective Services, Inc. Maintains that no employees have been
• 3:44
  Speaker 3: terminated due to union involvement. We fully support our employees'
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  Speaker 3: right to choose whether or not to join a union.
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  Speaker 3: Of our one hundred and seventy five employees, only six
• 3:54
  Speaker 3: have been removed from the schedule or terminated, all due
• 3:57
  Speaker 3: to licensing issues or performance concerns. We find these allegations
• 4:01
  Speaker 3: to be without merit and believe they are being used
• 4:04
  Speaker 3: by the union to exert pressure on the company.
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  Speaker 2: End quote.
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  Speaker 3: So I've included the full statement from MPs CEO and
• 4:11
  Speaker 3: President Derek Parks in the show notes for this episode
• 4:14
  Speaker 3: so that you can read the full thing. But for now,
• 4:16
  Speaker 3: as we always do, we're going to take you guys
• 4:19
  Speaker 3: to the front lines of this struggle so that you
• 4:21
  Speaker 3: can hear directly from the working people at the center
• 4:24
  Speaker 3: of it. And I am really grateful to be joined
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  Speaker 3: on the show today by Victoria Cox herself. Victoria is
• 4:29
  Speaker 3: a former MPs employee who worked to get to the
• 4:32
  Speaker 3: rank of sergeant, and we're also joined by Darryl Riley,
• 4:36
  Speaker 3: a former MPs employee who's been working there for fifteen
• 4:39
  Speaker 3: months and reached the rank of corporal. Both Victoria and
• 4:42
  Speaker 3: Darryl have had their shifts taken off the schedule and
• 4:45
  Speaker 3: essentially their jobs taken away, and they have both been
• 4:48
  Speaker 3: put under investigation by MPs since the strike began. Victoria Darryl,
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  Speaker 3: thank you both so much for joining me today. I
• 4:56
  Speaker 3: really really appreciate it, and I really wish we were
• 4:59
  Speaker 3: meeting on less infuriating circumstances, and I want to talk
• 5:03
  Speaker 3: about all of this with you in the short time
• 5:05
  Speaker 3: that we have. And to start, I wanted to just
• 5:08
  Speaker 3: ask if if you guys could both remind our listeners
• 5:11
  Speaker 3: you know where this strike came from, Like, what are
• 5:13
  Speaker 3: the key issues that you and fellow security guards face
• 5:17
  Speaker 3: on the job. You know, why have you been trying
• 5:19
  Speaker 3: to unionize and why were you prepared to, you know,
• 5:22
  Speaker 3: go on an unfair labor practice strike in April. I
• 5:25
  Speaker 3: just want to make sure that folks listening remember before
• 5:28
  Speaker 3: we talk about what happened after the strike, what this
• 5:31
  Speaker 3: is all about.
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: Well, for one, I just want to say thank you
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: for taking a time out to hear us.
• 5:37
  Speaker 2: We need to be heard.
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: Enough is enough? Things need to be stopped. I'm a
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: little emotional because we're writing it out for a minute,
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: but I'll pay. We got families, we got bills. I
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: just buy a new car. We got bills and stuff
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: to pay and we're behind. So basically, I'm just reaching
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: out for how answers. The investigation being investigated too long.
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: It's the reason I'm low emotions because two years is
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: coming up and I'm a sergeant. I'm not understanding why
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: has this happened? I did over time, I even did.
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: I watched for them on my days off, and the
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: union has really stuck by, I mean supporting me. I
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: just need answers and why is this happenings. Maybe since
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: we've been on strike, things has been really like help,
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: truthfully help for us. We change has been like every
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: day since we've been on striketh things has been It's
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: like a change every day. Every day is every every
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: day more has been added on to us, and we
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: obeyed it and did. When I did the sixteen nine
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: hours and came in the next day at nine o'clock,
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: I think I was rightfully deserved, rightfully deserved a break,
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: and I took my break at eleven thirty. As I
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: took my break at eleven thirty, they came marching down
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  Speaker 1: like military people and asking me why was I sitting
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: on my car on my lunch break and even lied
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: to me and saying in post orders, I'm not allowed
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: to sit in my off for lunch break. And I
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: asked them to show me that in the post orders.
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: They couldn't. I pulled it up. It was nothing there.
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: I screenshot it said gmails, no reply. I nicely and
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: it started off I said good morning and get an afternoon
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: and also ended with thank you. Can you respond to
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: me to let me know what am I underinvestigated for
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: no response? So today I have gotten a Gmail saying, oh,
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: we got moved to higher up chief, we need answers,
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: we had bills, we had family. This is not fair.
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: We're getting we're not we're not taking off the schedule
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: if you and we're if you're done with us and
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: we're fined telling us that so we can move on
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: and get unemployment and go further. But they're not responding
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: and not saying nothing to us. We're we're we're right now,
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: We're not getting paid nothing, and it's so one fae.
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: I just need.
• 8:01
  Speaker 3: Asses thank you so much for sharing that, Victoria. I
• 8:04
  Speaker 3: really appreciate it, and I completely understand why you're feeling
• 8:08
  Speaker 3: the way that you are. My heart breaks thinking about
• 8:11
  Speaker 3: all the many working people I've talked to who are
• 8:15
  Speaker 3: in situations like yours, and just how callous these bosses
• 8:20
  Speaker 3: are towards our pain, you know, how callous politicians can
• 8:24
  Speaker 3: be to that pain, how much the media can ignore it,
• 8:29
  Speaker 3: and of course, like we're doing our best here to
• 8:31
  Speaker 3: sort of counteract that. But I guess I'm appealing to
• 8:35
  Speaker 3: everyone listening to this that, you know, don't let these
• 8:38
  Speaker 3: stories and these injustices just fade into the background, like
• 8:42
  Speaker 3: nothing's gonna happen here unless fellow workers stand up and
• 8:46
  Speaker 3: demand accountability. And we're going to talk more about that
• 8:49
  Speaker 3: as this conversation goes on. And Darryl, I wanted to
• 8:52
  Speaker 3: bring you in here, and I wanted to ask if
• 8:54
  Speaker 3: you could talk a little bit about what it was
• 8:56
  Speaker 3: like working for you at MPs before the strike and
• 9:00
  Speaker 3: then help remind our listeners, like you know, why you
• 9:03
  Speaker 3: went on strike, and then let's then we'll talk about
• 9:06
  Speaker 3: what happened to you after the strike.
• 9:07
  Speaker 4: Actually, before the strike, the job really really wasn't so
• 9:13
  Speaker 4: wasn't so bad. You know, we didn't have like a whole,
• 9:17
  Speaker 4: like a whole bunch of rules or whatever. However, the
• 9:21
  Speaker 4: job always been dangerous. You know, on most jobs is
• 9:28
  Speaker 4: the police and then you on our job, it's us
• 9:31
  Speaker 4: first and dinner police, And so we go into everything,
• 9:37
  Speaker 4: like I said, hit on, we get paid a little
• 9:40
  Speaker 4: bit of money and you know, we take all all
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  Speaker 4: the all the brunt of.
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  Speaker 5: The work, you know what I mean.
• 9:48
  Speaker 4: Uh, Like I said, we go in all kinds of
• 9:51
  Speaker 4: dangerous situations where it where shootouts.
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  Speaker 5: Where somebody got killed in the house.
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  Speaker 4: You know, all that we go for the police is
• 10:02
  Speaker 4: second today and but we just really doing our job
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  Speaker 4: just fine, you know what I mean. So basically to
• 10:09
  Speaker 4: have to you know, have to destriye. So I mean,
• 10:13
  Speaker 4: of course, you know we want better I mean better
• 10:16
  Speaker 4: situation because at the end of the day, we not
• 10:19
  Speaker 4: the police, you know what I'm saying, But we acting
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  Speaker 4: like it.
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  Speaker 5: But but we don't get to pay to dig it,
• 10:25
  Speaker 5: you know what I mean.
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  Speaker 4: So basically we were just trying to, you know, ask
• 10:28
  Speaker 4: for better conditions for.
• 10:29
  Speaker 5: The job that we work. I mean, we think we
• 10:31
  Speaker 5: deserve it well.
• 10:32
  Speaker 3: And I'm just remembering like some of the things we
• 10:35
  Speaker 3: talked about in that last episode, right, I mean, all
• 10:37
  Speaker 3: the different things you guys have to deal with, and
• 10:40
  Speaker 3: we also talked about the fact that, like it's tough
• 10:42
  Speaker 3: because most people don't have good interactions with security guards,
• 10:46
  Speaker 3: and so like people tend to like not want to
• 10:50
  Speaker 3: sympathize with, you know, workers, you know that they hear
• 10:53
  Speaker 3: a security guards. But then when you listen to the
• 10:56
  Speaker 3: the kind of stuff that you guys deal with on
• 10:57
  Speaker 3: your shift, and and the kind of pay that you're
• 11:00
  Speaker 3: getting and the kind of crap you got to deal
• 11:02
  Speaker 3: with from your management, you know, I think it's really
• 11:05
  Speaker 3: important that everyone hear that and consider the human being
• 11:09
  Speaker 3: behind the uniform, you know.
• 11:11
  Speaker 2: And and so talk to.
• 11:13
  Speaker 3: Me about the strike itself, like, I mean, how were
• 11:16
  Speaker 3: you both feeling going into the strike, And then like
• 11:21
  Speaker 3: let's talk about how quickly things changed after the strike
• 11:24
  Speaker 3: in early April.
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: Wow, Wow, I'm gonna take it a little bit. Maybe
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: want to back and I apologize. I didn't bring this up.
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: We all saw me and my partner, which is Raley Darrell.
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: Raleigh was stuck at work for three days, and they
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: promised us that they were going to you know, out
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: what the surprise was supposed to be, and we never
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: got it. We stayed away for three days. They never
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: called a check up on us or anything. So we
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: sucked that up, let it go. Say hey, well we
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: wrote it out, We're still going to do our job.
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: Still was dedicated. I didn't know this was going it
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: was gonna go this far. We still continue to do
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: our job. But soon as when the union got involved,
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: of course they said no, y'all need no union, blah
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: blah blah blah blah blah. We said no, we need
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: a union. So of course I stuck out that gasore
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: thumb because I said, we need this. So I made
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: sure that I went up toward a lot of the
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: other officers. We got you know, got it done. Of course,
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: we go on strike, and who faces as big as
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: days on the poster mine? So of course I was
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: a target. I was told by other officers that oh yeah,
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: we're gonna get her. She gonna be the first one.
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: They were going after everyone that went that went on strike.
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: But again I kept a professional before I went on strike,
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: I did. I told them I'm going on strike, but
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: I have coverage, and it was that I had. I
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: did have coverage, and I did the rightful thing. I
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: just didn't walk off the job. I didn't abandon anything,
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: and I still did the rightful thing. To protect my job,
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: and I said, still get treated like this. I'm I'm
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: I'm lost. I'm just I'm lost for words. So I
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: just feel like every city it made it even worse.
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: When I you know, we joined the union, it's like, yeah, okay,
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: it's like, as you're not going to do what we say.
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: We got something, so it's like they were trying to
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: find I thought we were set up. They were trying
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: to find something, something on us. So they said, let's
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: just pick the sergeant cocks. She was sitting in our car.
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: This's just this. Sixteen hours came back nine o'clock one,
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: all of us May eleven thirty. Nah. But I always
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: covered myself by helping proof. There was nothing said on
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: the post orders. And then it was a smack of
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: my face. The next day the captains told me, hey,
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: what so and so did sixteen hours? And I gave
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: her forty minutes and she went off post. I said,
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: I'm a sergeant, so what's makes her different from me?
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: And she's a new guard, so that's why I'm hurting.
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: I'm not understanding. I never have gotten rid of written
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: up either. I always was a yesser person, even though
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: when it was wrong because at the end of the day,
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: I have bills. I have bills to pay. I don't
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: have a family to feed. And now my family questioned me,
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: you know what's going on? And now I'm behind on
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: some things. It's and I don't even know. And I'm
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: be honest with you. We even try to cash out
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: with PTO. I don't even know if that's going they're
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: gonna set that and we're we're in this interview right now,
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: and it's crazy because I just got a call from
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: Metropolitan and I got a text mesch from Sop telling
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: me to call her. That's what I wanted to bring
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: up as well. I don't know what this is about either,
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: what they gonna say. No, I can't get.
• 14:33
  Speaker 3: PTO now, I mean, and just like so just to
• 14:40
  Speaker 3: make sure that we've got it, uh, you know, all
• 14:43
  Speaker 3: clear here?
• 14:44
  Speaker 2: Right?
• 14:46
  Speaker 3: So Victoria, you you know we're we're working at Westport Housing.
• 14:50
  Speaker 2: You worked there for a while, you know you you.
• 14:54
  Speaker 3: Uh, you know, like you said earlier, you know you
• 14:57
  Speaker 3: you were always you know ever been written up. You
• 15:01
  Speaker 3: know you did double shifts. You know you took you know,
• 15:03
  Speaker 3: you were you're a team player, right and then after
• 15:08
  Speaker 3: working a sixteen hour day. The next morning you come
• 15:12
  Speaker 3: in and at nine am in the morning, you take
• 15:16
  Speaker 3: your lunch break at eleven and you have your lunch
• 15:19
  Speaker 3: in your car, and then they use that to essentially
• 15:23
  Speaker 3: take your shifts in your job and everything away.
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: Yes, they literally told a fib and said, oh, you
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: want your lunch break for a whole holum. I'm like
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: what And I'm not being funny because I have a
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: monkey joke. Literally, they was walking down I didn't even
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: really start my lunch this year. I was eating banana
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: and I could choose to eat my banana as I
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: was talking to them. But I also when he was
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: saying something crazy, I show them a screenshot when the
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: post order said that I cannot leave the post orc
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: and not sit in my car for a lunch break.
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: They just hit their head down. So they was really
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: trying to find something on me.
• 15:53
  Speaker 3: And again I this is just my ignorance of the situation.
• 15:58
  Speaker 3: They're trying to say that this is like a fireable offense.
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: Yes, got an investigation, yup.
• 16:05
  Speaker 3: So you're yeah, I want to be careful for listeners
• 16:07
  Speaker 3: because like you know, you know, uh, a Sergeant Cox
• 16:11
  Speaker 3: has not been fired but is under investigation has essentially
• 16:14
  Speaker 3: been taken like all off the schedule, which is like
• 16:17
  Speaker 3: effectively firing a person without firing them. But you know,
• 16:21
  Speaker 3: I want to be careful with the language that we're using.
• 16:24
  Speaker 3: And so Victoria's so they said that because you left
• 16:27
  Speaker 3: your post to eat your lunch in your car, that's
• 16:30
  Speaker 3: why it happened.
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: I have to laugh on this. I'm sorry because it's
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: my nervous I have to laugh on this because when
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: they said I left the post, I swear if you
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: go down there, anybody they hear this, go down there Westwood.
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: They'd be like, wait a minute, I show pictures. I
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: did not leave the post at all. Where where I
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: was at was like right there that still said Westport.
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: I was still on the property, still there. I never
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: want you, no restaurant, carry out, nothing. I was sitting
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: in my car on the side the still say Westport.
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: I was still in If that's the case, If I
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: was off the poppy.
• 17:00
  Speaker 2: How did you find me? And how soon did this
• 17:03
  Speaker 2: happen after the strike?
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: Oh good, I'm gonna say, God say three weeks again.
• 17:11
  Speaker 3: I don't want to put words in your mouth, but
• 17:13
  Speaker 3: from what you've been saying, it sounds like things were
• 17:16
  Speaker 3: like kind of getting noticeably worse.
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: Over the Yes, it seemed like every since that happened,
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: they would come down another their time life because me
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: and cop Ronnie kept saying, wait a minute, I'm sergying
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: you caught. Why are they coming down here every day?
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: And they switched stuff up? Are y'all y'all can be
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: right here? Y'all can't eat inside the building. I said,
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: I'm gonna sit in my car and eat us, or
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: I'm gonna need y'all to start checking the funting unlocking,
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: I mean, making sure these doors unlock and lock. It
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: was things changed, was changing every day every day, and
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: I even asked, so when it's pulled down raining we said, yeah,
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: I want y'all out here. Just keep walking, keep walking,
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: so if your legs start her, just keep walking on,
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: laying up against the fence. It just kept getting worse
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: and worse and worse and now and I guess they
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: feel they won. Well, yeah, that we got it out
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: of here on my lunch break. And they also asked
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: me why was he in his view? I said, he's
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: not supposed to be alone because something happened to him.
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: Then it's not going to fall on me. So what
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: is the problem. No one stands alone. Correct, We're supposed
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: to be a team together. And we were still on property,
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: so if something did kick, we had the radios. We
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: just stop what we was doing and jump to it
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: immediately like we always do.
• 18:24
  Speaker 3: And Daryl, how about you, like, can you can you
• 18:27
  Speaker 3: talk us through what this was all looking like from
• 18:30
  Speaker 3: from your vantage point after the strike?
• 18:33
  Speaker 4: After the strike basically rules we never even heard of
• 18:37
  Speaker 4: it before, never even been seen, you know, was now
• 18:42
  Speaker 4: a rule that I mean, we didn't know nothing about.
• 18:45
  Speaker 5: You know what I'm saying. It was all in the
• 18:47
  Speaker 5: you know what I'm saying.
• 18:48
  Speaker 4: They was basically just doing everything off the cuff, you
• 18:52
  Speaker 4: know what I'm saying. After that, it was just like whatever,
• 18:56
  Speaker 4: you know what I mean, We'll just we'll just find
• 18:59
  Speaker 4: anything or whatever. But before then, these same things and
• 19:05
  Speaker 4: all that with never issue was never talked.
• 19:08
  Speaker 5: About or whatever.
• 19:10
  Speaker 4: And the thing about it is, everybody anyway goes off
• 19:15
  Speaker 4: a property to go take their thirty minute break, you
• 19:20
  Speaker 4: call it into command that you're taking your thirty minute break,
• 19:22
  Speaker 4: so they know it. You call it in, and then
• 19:25
  Speaker 4: you called it out when it's over.
• 19:27
  Speaker 5: So two days before that, our captain came.
• 19:30
  Speaker 4: And said that, you know, one of the people from
• 19:33
  Speaker 4: the contract.
• 19:34
  Speaker 5: Said that, you know, we left the site or whatever.
• 19:37
  Speaker 5: I said, No, I said, I left the site. I said,
• 19:40
  Speaker 5: I went to pot poe. I said, I called into
• 19:42
  Speaker 5: thirty minutes to command, and.
• 19:45
  Speaker 4: Then when I got back, I called it back out.
• 19:48
  Speaker 5: And he said, well, that's for us, that's not for them.
• 19:52
  Speaker 4: So basically he was saying, okay, it's really okay, you
• 19:57
  Speaker 4: know what I mean, for the company, you know.
• 19:58
  Speaker 2: What I mean, But he don't.
• 20:00
  Speaker 5: I want the contact to know that that's what it is.
• 20:04
  Speaker 4: But basically we got in trouble anyway because of it.
• 20:08
  Speaker 4: You know what I'm saying, I once you know, I mean,
• 20:10
  Speaker 4: I they just you know, after that, I mean, just well.
• 20:16
  Speaker 3: And you know, again, I'll qualify this by saying that
• 20:21
  Speaker 3: I'm drawing this comparison just as myself. Max Alvarez a
• 20:25
  Speaker 3: journalist who's interviewed workers in different situations across this country,
• 20:30
  Speaker 3: including you know, workers at like Starbucks stores that have
• 20:34
  Speaker 3: been unionizing or trying to unionize, or successfully voted to unionize.
• 20:39
  Speaker 3: You know, this is the kind of crap that those
• 20:41
  Speaker 3: workers have been telling.
• 20:42
  Speaker 2: Me for years.
• 20:43
  Speaker 3: They say, yeah, man, like all of a sudden, managers
• 20:46
  Speaker 3: are writing us up for things that they have never
• 20:48
  Speaker 3: written a single person up forever before. They're saying that
• 20:52
  Speaker 3: they're not retaliating against us for union activity. But suddenly
• 20:56
  Speaker 3: my hours are getting cut, and now I'm losing my
• 20:59
  Speaker 3: health care, you know, I'm being assigned shifts in another store.
• 21:03
  Speaker 3: Like it feels like blatant you know, retaliation and punishment
• 21:07
  Speaker 3: for protected union activity parentheses for everyone listening, that is illegal.
• 21:12
  Speaker 3: Employers cannot do that. It is illegal for an employer
• 21:16
  Speaker 3: to retaliate against you or any other worker engaging in lawful,
• 21:20
  Speaker 3: concerted union activity.
• 21:22
  Speaker 2: Those are your rights.
• 21:23
  Speaker 3: And what it sounds like here is that we have
• 21:26
  Speaker 3: like another situation where workers yourselves included, engaged in those
• 21:32
  Speaker 3: protected rights to walk out on an unfair labor practice
• 21:35
  Speaker 3: strike and then faced what sounds like week's worth of
• 21:42
  Speaker 3: retaliatory action culminating in these bs, you know, investigations and
• 21:49
  Speaker 3: charges that you know, like you guys abandon your posts
• 21:53
  Speaker 3: and you know, like got taken off the schedule. Like so, Mike,
• 21:58
  Speaker 3: that's again just my commentary, adding observation. But the question
• 22:02
  Speaker 3: I want to ask you both, because it's a significant one,
• 22:05
  Speaker 3: is do you suspect that you were being retaliated against
• 22:10
  Speaker 3: your for engaging in the strike.
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: Yes, I know for sure. I'm telling you I have
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: gotten a lot of phone calls that was backing me
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: up and say hey, and I'm not even being funny,
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: but they said, I'm just saying, you know, since you've
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: been on that strike, you've been on the news and
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: you posted up the major came to them and told them,
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: which is unprofessional, that I was on the chopper board.
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: They want to make sure they get rid.
• 22:35
  Speaker 3: Of me and Daryl, do you do you believe you
• 22:37
  Speaker 3: were retaliated against for participating in the strike.
• 22:40
  Speaker 4: Yeah, of course, I mean because the company never wanted
• 22:44
  Speaker 4: it to begin with.
• 22:45
  Speaker 5: They made all kinds of snib remarks, you know what I.
• 22:48
  Speaker 4: Mean, and basically try to put us against you. They
• 22:53
  Speaker 4: never wanted and then once we went to it, and
• 22:59
  Speaker 4: then once it was but then basically they should they
• 23:02
  Speaker 4: showing that.
• 23:02
  Speaker 5: That they now wanted this. So basically that's what we're
• 23:06
  Speaker 5: going through. Now.
• 23:06
  Speaker 3: Well, let's let's talk about what you're going through now.
• 23:10
  Speaker 3: As much as you're comfortable sharing nothing, you're uncomfortable sharing.
• 23:14
  Speaker 3: But you know, I know I got to let you
• 23:16
  Speaker 3: guys go in a few minutes, and with the little
• 23:18
  Speaker 3: time that we have left, I wanted to talk about
• 23:22
  Speaker 3: what this has meant for you and your families, like
• 23:24
  Speaker 3: you know, how this has affected your lives and where
• 23:28
  Speaker 3: the hell things stand now with this investigation. You know,
• 23:33
  Speaker 3: your your jobs and and what is the union doing
• 23:36
  Speaker 3: to help and what can people listening do to help?
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: Well, I have to say this, you know, and I'm
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: sorry to getting emotions again. God as sir, I know
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: he's going to have an answer for me. And you
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: know they always say, well one door shut, another way open.
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: And thank God that I have a good support system
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: and my fiance has really support me to it all.
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: It told me to keep fighting, keep fighting, keep fighting.
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: So without her and family members trust me, you just
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: don't know. Probably had a nervous breakdown. But like I
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: said to God, I serve and I thank god I
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: have them in my life. I will be devastated with
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: how be out here doing things I ain't got no
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: business doing. So I'm just asking those that's listening to
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: keep us in prayer and keep fighting and fighting for us.
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: And we just want answers, We need our help. We
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: out here and been out of work with no pay,
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: no unemployment and not understanding why why we just need
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: help and prayer.
• 24:43
  Speaker 2: And Darryl please hop in here.
• 24:45
  Speaker 3: But I just wanted to underline something that Victoria said
• 24:48
  Speaker 3: for everyone listening in case we haven't made it clear.
• 24:52
  Speaker 3: You know, if you don't get outright fired, but you
• 24:55
  Speaker 3: just get taken off the schedule, you can't collect unemployment.
• 25:00
  Speaker 3: So it's like it's like screwing someone over twice. You know,
• 25:04
  Speaker 3: they can't work to pay their bills and they can't
• 25:06
  Speaker 3: collect unemployment to help with the costs of that. And
• 25:10
  Speaker 3: that's what Darryl and Victoria are dealing with right now. Darryl,
• 25:14
  Speaker 3: please hop in here and whatever you're comfortable sharing with folks,
• 25:17
  Speaker 3: just tell us you know where things are for you,
• 25:21
  Speaker 3: what the union's doing, and what folks listening can do
• 25:23
  Speaker 3: to help.
• 25:24
  Speaker 5: Well.
• 25:24
  Speaker 4: I mean, the Junie basically, the Virginia has been great
• 25:28
  Speaker 4: for us, you know, very supportive and basically, I mean,
• 25:34
  Speaker 4: I'm glad I'm with them, and I mean I'm glad
• 25:36
  Speaker 4: I met those I met those people. However, you know,
• 25:41
  Speaker 4: bills do still go on, even though since pretty much
• 25:45
  Speaker 4: now I'm at a stand still. I mean, I'm sure
• 25:50
  Speaker 4: it's fired because basically they're saying that, but they won't say.
• 25:54
  Speaker 5: That, you know. So basically, yeah, like you.
• 25:59
  Speaker 4: Said, I mean no line of employment, you know, can't
• 26:04
  Speaker 4: get my full one k out until I mean until
• 26:06
  Speaker 4: shotting happened or whatever. So basically, I mean, you know,
• 26:11
  Speaker 4: I mean, I have a family, so I don't know
• 26:15
  Speaker 4: how you know what I mean. I was gonna really
• 26:16
  Speaker 4: really really tough to support them, so I mean right now,
• 26:22
  Speaker 4: I mean, I really don't know what.
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: We just want to keep fighting. We just want to
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: keep fighting. Like he said, the union has really really
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: has been reaching us, even on holidays. They reach out
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: to us to make sure that we're okay. You need anything,
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: let us know. So we just want answers, you know,
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: and need y'all you guys help, don't don't give up
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: on us, and we're not going to give up on
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: you guys. We just want to keep fighting.
• 26:49
  Speaker 3: Oh right, gang, that's gonna wrap things up for us today.
• 26:53
  Speaker 3: I want to thank our guests, Victoria Cox and Darryl Riley.
• 26:57
  Speaker 3: Victoria is a former employee of Metropolitan protect Services who
• 27:00
  Speaker 3: work to get to the rank of sergeant, and Darryl
• 27:03
  Speaker 3: is a former MPs employee who's been working there for
• 27:06
  Speaker 3: fifteen months and reached the rank of corporal. Both Victoria
• 27:10
  Speaker 3: and Daryl have had their shifts taken off the schedule
• 27:13
  Speaker 3: and essentially had their jobs taken away, and they have
• 27:16
  Speaker 3: both been put under investigation by MPs since they participated
• 27:21
  Speaker 3: in an unfair labor practice strike in early April. And
• 27:24
  Speaker 3: of course I want to thank you all for listening,
• 27:27
  Speaker 3: and I want to thank you for caring. We'll see
• 27:29
  Speaker 3: y'all back here next time for another episode of Working People,
• 27:33
  Speaker 3: And in the meantime, please go explore all the great
• 27:35
  Speaker 3: work that we're doing at the Real News Network, where
• 27:38
  Speaker 3: we do grassroots reporting that lifts up the voices and
• 27:42
  Speaker 3: stories from the front lines of struggle. Check us out
• 27:45
  Speaker 3: across our YouTube channel, our podcast feeds, our website, and
• 27:49
  Speaker 3: our social media pages. And help us do more work
• 27:52
  Speaker 3: like this by going to therealnews dot com, forward slash,
• 27:56
  Speaker 3: donate and becoming a supporter today. I promise you guys,
• 27:59
  Speaker 3: it really makes a difference. A Maximilian Alvarez, take care
• 28:03
  Speaker 3: of yourselves, take care of each other. Solidarity forever.
• 28:11
  Speaker 4: When my face you no longer seen, I live on, Yes,
• 28:15
  Speaker 4: I live on wherever we go.
• 28:19
  Speaker 5: We're going to roll the union. On a song.
• 28:22
  Speaker 4: I live on, Yes.
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: I live home whatever hungry hungry are we just as
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: hungrss hunger can be this song.
• 28:32
  Speaker 2: I live on.
• 28:33
  Speaker 5: Yes.
• 28:34
  Speaker 3: I live on.
• 28:35
  Speaker 5: Well, mean things are happening in this land.
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: It's read a song.
• 28:39
  Speaker 4: I live on.
• 28:40
  Speaker 5: Yes, I live on. Whatever the book mean thing happening in.
• 28:45
  Speaker 4: This land is written. I live on.
• 28:47
  Speaker 5: Yes.
• 28:48
  Speaker 4: I live on whatever the videotape of media shown.
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: I live on.
• 28:55
  Speaker 4: Yes.
• 28:55
  Speaker 5: I live on.
• 28:57
  Speaker 2: If I have help to make this a bit of
• 28:59
  Speaker 2: wood live here, I'll live on.
• 29:02
  Speaker 4: Yes. I'll live on when my body was solid and
• 29:06
  Speaker 4: in some rooms of grades, I live on.
• 29:10
  Speaker 5: Yes.
• 29:10
  Speaker 4: I live on.
• 29:12
  Speaker 5: When my songs and poems.
• 29:15
  Speaker 4: Are red, I live on.
• 29:17
  Speaker 5: Yes.
• 29:17
  Speaker 3: I live on. M m m hm
• 29:26
  Speaker 5: M hm