Bill boosting pay and benefits for 80,000 security guards approved

The City Council gave building security guards a pay and benefits boost with new legislation passed Thursday evening, one of more than fifty bills debated during the council’s end-of-year marathon session.

The new law, which heads to the mayor’s desk for approval, will lock in wage, benefits, and paid time off rules for nearly 82,000 private security officers across the city. It was hailed by sponsors as a big win for labor.

“This legislation is a very concrete example of how you can do things on a bigger level [and] change lives. There are 80,000 security officers in New York City. That is not a small number. This will raise standards and wages for 80,000 workers,” Manny Pastreich, president of Local 32BJ of the  Service Employees’ International Union, told The Chief.

The law, passed with the support of 47 council members, sets wage, benefit and paid time off standards for all security guards at the same level as guards working on city contracts. Publicly contracted security guards currently make between $18.01 and $21.20 per hour, depending on seniority, according to 32BJ.

'We don't get paid enough'

Security guards in the city currently make about $40,300 a year, which is less than half of the region’s median income at $113,400, according to the University of California Berkeley Labor Center. More than 80 percent of security guards make less than the city’s living wage for a single adult at $32.85 per hour, as determined by MIT’s living wage calculator.

“[The bill] will support us more,” Raven Skinner, a security guard who attended a rally in support of the legislation on Thursday, told The Chief. “We don’t get praised enough [and] we don’t get paid enough.”

While the bill sets wages at the publicly contracted rate, the new pay range does not raise security guard pay above the level of “low-wage workers,” as classified by the Berkeley study. Low-wage pay is anything under $20.75 per hour, which is two-thirds of the area median wage. 

A spokesperson for City Hall said that Mayor Adams is considering the new bill.

“We are reviewing the details of this legislation,” the spokesperson told The Chief.

Named for fallen worker

The bill passed Thursday was named after Aland Etienne, a security guard killed during a mass shooting in midtown Manhattan earlier this year.

“Aland was someone who protected … others. He protected the public,” Rachelle Paoli, Etienne’s widow, said at the rally. “We came to honor his legacy by supporting his colleagues across the city of New York. Protect the protectors.”

The wage-boosting legislation comes as the issues of affordability and the cost of living increasingly take center stage at both the municipal and national levels. Incoming mayor Zohran Mamdani won the mayoral election in November on a platform of making the city less expensive, while President Trump has touted the strength of the U.S. economy, calling the issue of affordability “a hoax” earlier in December.

The U.S. economy is showing signs of stagflation, with both prices and unemployment rising together in November. The consumer price index was up 2.7 percent over the past year, though that number could be higher due to measurement errors caused by the recent federal government shutdown.

The national unemployment rate rose to 4.6 percent last month, the highest level in four years.

“[This legislation] does begin to address the affordability crisis that these workers deal with every single day,” Theodore Moore, executive director of labor advocacy group ALIGN, said during Thursday’s rally. “[This] becomes a template for the rest of the workers across New York, because all workers are going to look at the amazing work that you all have accomplished today, and be like – We’re next. We’re next.”

Prices are rising faster in the New York City area than they are nationally, up 3 percent since November of last year. Housing costs are up 4.2 percent compared to a year ago, household furnishings are up 5.5 percent, and food costs are up 3.8 percent.

Nearly 90 percent of New York City security guards call the city home and have to pay its higher cost of living, the Berkeley study found. About 62 percent receive health insurance through their employer or union.

“I never had to choose between paying rent and getting [healthcare], but there are thousands of security officers who have to make those kinds of tough choices, and it’s burning people out,” security guard Matilda Radinson, a 32BJ member, said.

Job churn in the private security sector is high. The turnover rate was 77 percent in 2024, compared to 69.3 percent prior to the pandemic in 2019, according to figures from SEIU.