Miami Beach Security Contractor Threatens Workers

Received this press release from Eugenio H. Villasante who's the Communications Manager for the Service Employees International Union.

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Miami Beach, Fl –The City of Miami Beach’s security contractor has been charged with intimidating workers for exercising their rights to organize, and threatening them with discharge for their legal union activities. The charge, filed by 32BJ SEIU – the largest property service workers union in the country -- is against Security Alliance of Florida, Inc. which employs 75 security officers in public spaces and buildings at the City of Miami Beach who earn as little as $10 an hour with no access to affordable and quality healthcare.

“Interrogating and threatening low-wage workers for trying to improve their life is shameful, especially in midst of this economic crisis,” said Eric Brakken, 32BJ SEIU Florida Director. “This type of worker abuse is what the Employee Free Choice Act, if passed by Congress, would stop.”

“Security Alliance is not playing fair,” said Jean Baptiste, a security officer who has been working for Security Alliance for the last 3 years. “They will have to hear our voices, most of us want a union, we have rights and they cannot intimidate us.”

According to Cornell University, 90% of private sector employers resist their employees’ efforts to unionize during the election process, and a quarter illegally fire union supporters. The Employee Free Choice Act would stop management abuse by restoring to workers the right to unionize through majority sign up, rather than allowing management to dictate the process. Union workers earn 30 percent more than nonunion workers and are 60 percent more likely to have employer-paid health insurance.

With more than 100,000 members in nine states, including Florida, 32BJ SEIU is the largest property service workers union in the country.

Miami reporter still kicking butt in S.C.

UPDATED: Hear Lush discuss the story here on NPR.


Tamara Lush, the Miami-based AP reporter who once worked at Miami New Times, has been doing some great work since being dispatched to South Carolina last Friday to work on the Mark Sanford story.

But today she's outdone herself by scoring an exclusive that's sure to be leading all of the cable news shows today. The NY Times blogs about the story here.

What's unique about this is that Lush, who's only been in S.C. four days, is beating journalists who have been covering Governor Sanford day in and day out for years.

By TAMARA LUSH and EVAN BERLAND - Associated Press Writers

COLUMBIA, S.C. -- South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford is admitting more encounters with his Argentine mistress than he previously has disclosed.

In a lengthy, emotional interview with The Associated Press, the governor described seven meetings with the woman, including their first in 2001. Sanford says there have been five over a 12-month period, including two multi-night stays with her in New York.

It was the first disclosure of any get-togethers with her in the United States and contradicted a public confession last week during which he admitted to a total of four encounters in the past year.

Repercussions are already reverberating throughout the state capitol due to Lush's scoop.

"S.C. State Sen. Vincent Sheheen, D-Camden, called Tuesday for Gov. Mark Sanford to resign.
"Sheheen’s statement came just minutes after The Associated Press released a story in which Sanford admitted to meeting his Argentine mistress more often than previously acknowledged, including twice in New York City, the first meetings in the United States Sanford have disclosed."

Miami reporter kicks butt in South Carolina

UPDATED Sunday at 10:10pm: Tamara scores another exclusive!

My friend, Tamara Lush, is a reporter for the AP based in Miami.

Tamara LushShe got shipped up to Columbia, SC the other day to help out with the Luv Gov story.

And now she's filing scoops left and right!

Way to go Scoop!

Celeb flashback

Some recent South Florida news stories prompted me to search my photo files.

Heat set to hire Alonzo Mourning for front-office job

Emilio and Gloria Estefan gain stake in Miami Dolphins

And this is what I found. A couple of years ago I was invited to shoot photos as another photographer shot Gloria and Alonzo for the cover of Ocean Drive magazine.


The above image is one of the many I shot that day.

Below is the resulting cover. Regrettably, I do not recall the name of the Ocean Drive photographer.

Paparazzi payday

If you've already maxed out on the coverage of Michael Jackson's tragic death, you might want to consider staying away from any supermarket checkout counters next week.

Jackson's death will no doubt dominate the covers of all the celeb mags and rags in the weeks to come.

(TMZ reports that TIME magazine has rushed a Michael Jackson commemorative issue into print that's due to arrive at newsstands on Monday.)

Random Pixels talked with a high level tabloid industry insider and we've learned that some big bucks were paid for the last photo of Jackson as his life slipped away.

My source tells me that Entertainment Tonight paid $100,000 for what's being called the "Exclusive last photo" of Jackson as paramedics attempted to resuscitate him as he was being transported to UCLA Medical Center in an ambulance.

My source also says that OK! Magazine won the bidding wars and the right to run that same photo in its U.S. and U.K. editions by paying a whopping $500,000.

The photo has almost certainly been shopped around to publications in other countries. By the time this is over, the photographers involved, stand to make a tidy sum.

All for one photo.
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Footnotes: If you've been waiting for the inevitable South Florida connection to this story, your wait is over.

Newseum.org has archived over 800 Michael Jackson newspaper front pages.

Today's Miami Herald

On some days it seems like the editors of the Herald are a little too fixated on Cuba and the impending demise of Castro.

But they may have gone a little overboard with today's paper.

Sources tell me that some Herald subscribers got this edition of the paper today.