Thousands of security guards in Valley high rises and office towers could become part of one of the most powerful labor organizations in the nation, a move some fear could force landlords to increase lease costs to account for better pay and benefits. Security guards at roughly a dozen office buildings in the Valley area are voting this month about joining a chapter of Service Employees International Union, which represents 1.3 million U.S. and Canadian service workers. The vote comes after a watershed agreement last month between commercial building owners and five security guard contractors to allow the SEIU to organize private and unarmed security guards at Los Angeles County buildings larger than 75,000 square feet. The five contractors are: Securitas Security Services USA, Universal Protection Service, American Commercial Security Services, Guard Systems Inc. and Allied-Barton Security Services. Published reports said the union could include as many as 10,000 security guards, although SEIU estimates peg that number closer to 3,000 and 5,000 guards. SEIU spokesman Terrence Long said those numbers will likely solidify as security guards sign authorization forms with each of the companies. After that, the union will be formally recognized, a bargaining committee will be formed and negotiations begin, Long said. “We’re working with the five contractors that are part of the agreement,” he said. “It’s hard to say exactly.” Neither Long nor officials from the Building Owners and Managers Association of Greater Los Angeles, which represented the property owners in negotiations, could pinpoint what structures could be affected. But there at least a dozen buildings in the Valley area that fit the parameters, most notably the Warner Center Towers and The Trillium complexes in Woodland Hills; the 36-story 10 Universal City Plaza; 32-story Tower Burbank and 25-story Glendale Plaza. Among the most effected would be Charles Dunn Co., which manages 1.8 million square feet in the Valley, and Santa Monica-based Douglas Emmett, which owns Warner Center Towers, The Trillium, Valley Office Plaza and Valley Executive Tower. Representatives from those buildings and their owners would not comment about any of the union efforts. Seven years in works The agreement ends a seven-year effort to unionize guards launched after the SEIU successfully organized janitors in 1999. The union initially wanted better benefits and pay for the guards, but after Sept. 11 it also called for increased training. That eventually prompted the Los Angeles City Council to pass an ordinance requiring building owners to pay for more training. Under the recent contract, building owners agreed not to block efforts by SEIU to unionize the guards while also working with the union if a majority of the guards wants to unionize. That could clear the way for the union to look at smaller facilities, said Rickey M. Gelb, managing partner of Gelb Enterprises, a real estate development and property management company that controls 40 buildings in the Valley, most of which are around 35,000 square feet. “Once they get the (larger buildings) unionized, they would try to get them unionized,” said Gelb, who contracts with two Van Nuys security firms and hires his own guards. “They have no choice, because memberships flatten out after a while.” Thomas Spear, president of Property Management Associates, which has a portfolio of mostly medium-sized buildings totaling 1.2 million square feet in the Valley, said it’s only a matter of time before the union starts to eye smaller or underperforming properties. “They go to the A (class) and then they go B, then they go to the C,” he said. Brendan Huffman, president of the Valley Industry & Commerce Association, said it’s too early to tell if the union effort will gain a toehold in the Valley, but he’s not ruling it out. “The unions have never really tried to unionize the Valley,” he said. “My guess is that if the union is successful downtown they’ll start looking to the Valley.” If that happens, it’s clear who will pay for the increased pay and health care, Huffman said. “All costs are ultimately passed on to the tenants,” he said. Many think that could force tenants to look outside L.A. County or make owners privatize their security guards rather than hire a third party. However, Long said the higher wages and benefits packages would help retain security guards, cutting down on turnover and expensive training. The contract, he said, will actually save landlords and tenants money while also making sure guards are properly compensated. “With the union contract, turnover will go down. Turnover is costing the tenants in the buildings an extraordinary amount of money,” Long said. “When the jobs get better, people stay at their jobs longer.” For his part, Gelb said that’s true he provides health care to his guards and finds many stay for years. “That’s just my philosophy in life is to give people hospitalization,” he said. “We have very low turnover.” But that doesn’t mean he sympathizes with the union effort. “I think their goal is right, but sometimes they take advantage of the employer when they can,” he said. UNIONIZING GUARDS The agreement between Service Employees International Union and the Building Owners and Managers Association of Greater Los Angeles allows certain security guards to organize. Those include guards in buildings 75,000 square feet and larger in Los Angeles County and employed by five firms: – Securitas Security Services USA, a division of Sweden-based Securitas Group – Universal Protection Service, based in Santa Ana with a branch in Canoga Park – American Commercial Security Services, part of San Francisco-based ABM Industries Inc. – Guard Systems Inc. of El Monte, with offices in Burbank – Allied-Barton Security Services, of King of Prussia, Penn., with offices in Thousand Oaks.