Published: February 22, 2010

In an effort to secure the right to unionize for Queens College's security guards, students met with President James Muyskens on Wednesday, Feb. 17, in his Kiely Hall office.

The meeting between the president and 22 students from various campus organizations highlighted an issue that both sides consider an important one.

They both affirm the need for campus guards to be allowed to join the Service Employees International Union Local 32BJ, which represents over 120,000 property management employees on the East Coast, according the SEIU organizer Julian Gantt.

"We have a strategic plan at this college, and one of the pillars of that plan is to make QC a community," Muyskens said. "I want a security guard to come from [Andrews International] and enjoy working here, but it can be hard to do that when they're not making ends meet."

The president admitted that he didn't know the terms if the contract between Andrews, a private security contractor, and its employees. Andrews has a contract with the City University of New York, not just QC specifically, according to Muyskens.

After Muyskens and the students realized they share common ground, the meeting's focus shifted to strategy.

"We need to make sure that this is a CUNY-wide effort, and in many ways QC has been the leader with this," Muyskens said. "I was the first president to meet with [the guards] and have met with other presidents on the issue."

According to Gantt, there are 45 private security employees at QC. These guards, Gantt says, face low wages, poor benefits and little job security. The SEIU's focus on campus security in the CUNY system will affect between 130 and 150 guards on eight CUNY campuses.

"Generally, city-wide, security is the lowest-paid industry," Gantt said.

QC sophomore Andrew Demasters, Democratic Student Alliance party chair, said extending benefits to campus security would pay off for students.

"From a student's point of view, we have security, but there's no enforcement. Anyone can drive up to the Student Union parking lot and just sit there," said Demasters. "I think if we offer these benefits maybe they'll have the incentive to step up their role and not just sit there looking like security guards.