Security guards protest name change that cost them seniority

by Eric Jackson

What's in a name? Some security guards who had been working for G4S Valores, SA, some of them for 20 years or more, say a lot. The company, which does business as Group 4 Securicor and whose clients include the British Embassy, changed its name earlier this year to G4S, SA and in so doing set back the clock on the employees' seniority to zero. The company's general manager said in a memo to employees that nobody who accepted the new deal would be laid off and that the guards' seniority and benefits wouldn't be affected, but some disaffected employees told this reporter that the company had hollowed out its assets so as to be arguably insolvent if required to meet its contractual and labor law obligations.

About 30 of the 580 workers rejected the deal and lost their jobs, with the company then arguing that by rejecting the change they had lost all benefits accrued from their years of service.

G4S also argued that the name change invalidated the contract that it had with the union representing the security guards, and this sleight of hand was upheld by Labor Tribunal magistrate Carlos Isaza.

The PRD-aligned CONATO labor federation, which counts under its umbrella some public employees' unions but mostly small and compliant company unions, is supporting the company against the workers. The Union Network International, a global coalition of labor unions, supports the workers. While international support may seem irrelevant, the government of the United Kingdom is run by a Labor Party which includes labor unions as some of its key components and international pressure on the company through British labor unions could conceivably  cost the company its contract with the British Embassy.