CUPERTINO — Amid debate about Silicon Valley’s sweeping use of contract workers, Apple will dramatically expand its in-house security team, giving the officers the same benefits as other employees.
After a yearlong review, Apple has decided to hire the majority of its day-to-day security staff in the valley as full-time Apple workers, a spokeswoman told this newspaper. The Cupertino-based company had previously used a contractor to fill the positions. Like other Apple employees, the security guards will be entitled to full health insurance, retirement contributions and leave for new parents, among other benefits.
“We will be hiring a large number of full-time people to handle our day-to-day security needs,” the spokeswoman said. “We hope that virtually all of these positions will be filled by employees from our current security vendor and we’re working closely with them on this process.”
Apple will soon begin hiring for the security team, inviting its current officers to apply for in-house positions. The company will still use contract security guards when it needs to expand its force temporarily for special events.
The move comes as advocates are calling upon Apple and other tech companies to extend their wealth to service workers who cook, clean and monitor security on tech campuses but see few of the industry’s lavish perks. Apple’s program echoes steps by Google, which announced in October that it would hire about 200 security guards, drawing praise from local union United Service Workers West.
United Service Workers West, a regional arm of the Service Employees International Union that is trying to organize security guards in the valley, had called on Apple to move away from its security contractor, staging a rally on the tech company’s campus in December. The union claimed that Apple’s contractor, Security Industry Specialists, had a poor record of treating workers and that many of the positions were part-time.
As Apple and Google add security guards to their payrolls, other service workers are banding together to demand better wages and benefits. Shuttle bus drivers for Apple, Yahoo, Genentech, eBay and Zynga voted on Friday to join the Teamsters, following the lead of Facebook’s drivers. Under a contract approved last month, Facebook drivers working full-time will receive about $33,000 more in wages and benefits than they received before, the Teamsters said.
Contact Julia Love at 408-920-5536 or follow her at Twitter.com/byJuliaLove
