American Heroes, American Union Members
Remember the US Airways crew that pulled of an amazing landing in the Hudson and safely evacuated the plane?
And remember that ship crew that successfully fought off pirates?
Yesterday, three members of the International Union, Security, Police and Fire Professionals of America joined these men and women as union members whose training prepared them to perform heroically when it mattered most.
ThinkProgress spoke to SPFPA Organizing Director Steve Maritas, who said that the officers working at the museum worked for Wackenhut Services, Inc. He stressed that because of the intense security environment in Washington, DC, these men and women go through extensive training:
These guys are security police professionals, which is a whole different level of training compared to security guards. … We represent approximately 5,000 officers around the area, including the Pentagon and the Ronald Reagan Building. It’s a tragedy, what happened. […]
Because of the high-profile buildings that they represent, they would continuously provide training to these officers. … When they train these guys, they’re trained on more of a terrorism level.
Tragically, Stephen T. Johns gave his life while protecting the visitors and employees of the Holocaust Museum. And he might not have died had union demands that these guards receive company-issued protective vests been heeded; Johns took a bullet in his torso.
This is our third reminder this year that unions do more than fight for middle class wages. They fight for the training that prepares men and women to do their jobs well. They help to ensure the safety of these men and women–and through their work, the safety of all of us.
We got another reminder yesterday of the real dangers presented by home grown right wing terrorism. But we also got another reminder that a lot of the heroes of these stories are union members, working to keep us all safe.
Which means that the museum is about to be sued. And possibly before the suit is filed, the guards will get vests. They may already have them.
Boxturtle (Non-union guards sometimes get vests, too)
Wackenhut is about to get sued–they were the direct employers. Meanwhile, TP reports that some Iraqi vets are giving the museum guards their vests from Iraq.
The TP piece update says 1 vet has donated 2 vests he had and asks for other vets to donate theirs. Since the Army specifically collects weapons and body armour when not in a combat environment I wonder if he’s gonna have a visit from the Army.
Weren’t there a lot of stories about GIs and/or their families, having to purchase protective armor personally. IIRC, that included some threats of courts martial if troops were using individually purchased armor.
Yep, the military was tryin’ to cover their ass for a shitty logistical situation. National Guard troops were being issued the same flak jackets we had in Nam. Good for shrapnel, not so good against a 7.62mm round.
Wackenhut…Oh my. This is going to be really expensive for them. This’ll be a 7 figure out of court settlement AND a 7 figure cost to outfit all their employees with vests who could even POSSIBLY need one. Their lawyers will insist.
Boxturtle (And KUDOS to those Iraqi vets!!!!!)
Long time lurker here.
Thanks for drawing attention to the heroism of yet another union worker. As an “ex” Teamster who moved on to work in management, I am constantly amazed how anyone can rationally criticize union members or the right of people to collectively negotiate and enter into binding contracts governing wages, health care, retirement benefits, and working conditions.
While some criticism is warranted for corruption by union officials, it pales in comparison to the corruption we find by elected officials and most recently, so-called captains of industry.
It is regrettable that our society has forgotten the abysmal wages and working conditions that gave rise to the modern union, and forgotten that everyone, in every job, in every industry, owes a debt of gratitude to union members who suffered and died in the service of others.
Unions created our middle class.
Ew thank you for bringing our attention to this.
Praying for the family of the guard.
Chris Matthews was kind of pointing the finger or complicity in these radicla killings at Sarah Palin and her inflammatory rhetoric
CNN just reported while the vests were discussed when the agreement was reached it was not a part of that agreement. They interviewed a SPFPA rep.
Thanks for this forceful reminder. The first thing that goes when cutting costs to increase profits is training and safety.
Profits are more important than whether armed men and women, charged with protecting the general public in public places, have the training and equipment to respond to emergency situations (and to protect themselves while doing it), including using the use of deadly force.
Can expect that to change about as fast as those vehicles are up-armored in Iraq?
Over the past 24 hours, my admiration and graditude for women and men who work as security guards has increased exponentially.
I never truly understood the value of unions until I married into a union. I knew they were important but never understood the level of training, the safety, the quality of service that unions help to provide for all of us.
My husband is a member of the IBEW…the IBEW came to the rescue in Iraq when the KBR electrical crew did shoddy work that resulted in the electrocution of several U.S troop members. It took the union electricians to turn the situation around and to be able to blow the whistle on the extent of shoddy work that had been done.
Supporting the unions really is good for everyone. You don’t have to agree with everything that a union does, but for the most part, the extra training, and all the benefits that compensate them, make our lives safer.
so why ain’t we a Union blog ???
we could get safety training an other neat stuff
emptywheel fans of the world UNITE
we got nothing to lose but our minds
UNION NOW, UNION FOREVER
(dibs on the treasurer’s job)
sorry, couldn’t help myself …
nosir, freep, you got a job.
What would we do with our trolls, after all?
I thought Freep kept them in the Treasury …
Stephen Johns’ last act before he died was to help the old man into the museum because the old man appeared to be having trouble. Turns out, the old man, a white supremacist, had a rifle in his coat and then shot & killed Johns (a black man). His family deserves something, because at the end of his life he was reaching out and doing the right thing. What a story.
Von Brunn used a shotgun. Drinking Dick Cheney used a shotgun when he shot his friend in the face.
With all due respect, Poor Mr. John probably had more than just one “bullet” in his torso. He likely had many pieces of buckshot (spherical steel balls) blasted into him that caused his death. Shotguns can be loaded with a single projectile (a slug), but a criminal who intends to kill people with a shotgun would probably not opt for a single slug.
It is possible that Mr. John was hit by only one “shot ball”, but at close range, it is more likely that many shot balls entered his body. (Was there verification of only one “bullet”?) Haggis Spector knows a thing or two about magic single bullets.
Where handguns aren’t used, shotguns are typically used in these crimes, not rifles. Hunting rifles which fire only one bullet at a time are not typically efficient for close range use. Rifles are generally designed for long range accuracy. Shotguns are designed for closer range shooting and they scatter their load in a “pattern” that can be varied by the choke of the shotgun. The pattern can be made to be close or spread out like a spray.
I heard today that it was a 22. A 22 is a low caliber bullet.
If Mr John was shot with a shotgun as he opened the door for the shooter he’d have taken the full blast, including the plastic shot holder. Hard to survive a point blank shotgun blast.
Yep, and it could have easily been aimed low or high to miss the vest had he been wearing one. At point blank range from a 12 gauge, and either choice or a center mass shot would have been fatal. Interesting that the second trained union guard used restraint and that the assailant was only incapacitated (though he may not survive his head wound).
Vests would help, but this is a cultural issue as well as a tactical one, one reason the Reichwingers are out in battalions claiming this is an isolated, crazy lone gunman. Where have we heard that before?
Violent extremism is built into the species; a few will always relent to its urgings. What we might change is the status of a media that extols its virtues. The rewards of social validation and acceptance broadcast by Fox Noise, Limbaugh, Beck, Operation Rescue [sic] and their ilk fully compete with the imaginary virgins offered to other extremists. We should isolate and restrain our own before we arrogate to ourselves the right to teach others how to do it.
What foothillsmike said.
And it doesn’t take MILSPEC body armour to stop a low-velocity round.
If only someone would have listened to the Union.
Last I heard, Von Brunn used a .22 rifle. Ever consider what that stuff in your fantasy life might mean, Hackworth?
I don’t think that the vest that are worn on the battlefield are comparable to what is worn by police types.
Wow, I just ASSUMED that any security guard in the nation’s Capitol would have a bullet proof vest!
This is astonishing. And sad.
Ew,
You are great.
You tie this shooting to union issues.
This shooting is great for anti-gun folks. And pro-union folks.
Scarecrow’s diary promoted!
Surprise! AMA Wants to Shield Insurance/Pharma (and Doctors) from Public Plan Competition
$30 BILLION FOR ISRAEL OVER THE NEXT 10 YEARS
NO MONEY FOR BULLETPROOF VESTS FOR THE GUARDS AT THE HOLOCAUST MUSEUM!
AND I DON’T GIVE A TINKER’S DAMN THAT THE GUARDS ARE TECHNICALLY EMPLOYED BY THE DANISH-OWNED WACKENHUT* CORP THAT CONTRACTED WITH THE MUSEUM. I ASSUME THAT THE ‘COST SAVINGS’ WERE DIVVIED UP.
*THE EUROPEAN EQUIVALENT OF HALIBURTON/KBR/BLACKWATER!