INTRODUCTION & SUMMARY - Start Here

Here we chronicle the plight of Florida's Bridge Tenders in our struggle to stop exploitation and profiteering at the hands of the ISS & ICA middlemen. We demand wages and benefits consistent with the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, improved safety and legal protection.

 

Welcome ISS, ICA, FDOT, NLRB welcome all! This blog provides historical information to ISS (our direct employer), ICA (holds the bridge staffing contact with the FDOT and subcontracts our services from ISS), the FDOT (owns the bridges), the U.S. Coast Guard USCG (regulates bridge operation), Federal, State and Local Officials (the buck stops here?), the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), the press, the public and our fellow bridge tenders about our battle to stop wage theft. 

 

BACKGROUND: ISS currently pays bridge tenders just pennies above minimum wage to start, after a year (and a struggle to get the only promised raise) we're now paid $8.25/hr. south of Tampa Bay, $8.75/hr. north of Tampa Bay, $10.00hr in Jacksonville and $10.50 in Delray Beach. The benefits are as capricious as the wages, some get 5 paid holidays others 0 (State employees get 7, Federal 9), some get paid vacations, some get sick leave, others nothing at all. But we all work for the same company, perform the same job under similar Agreements in the same State. It seems we're paid depending on how much local pressure ISS receives. In Jacksonville and Delray Beach it took union pressure to win their raises and benefits. The majority of Florida bridge tenders are seniors held captive at the poverty level. Our wages are an outrage and an insult. We are organizing under the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) to stop wage theft by ISS and ICA.

 

Initial Demands. In April we demanded equal pay for equal work, the same rate throughout all of Florida, that was all. After being stonewalled we were forced to circulate a petition to West Coast tenders in an attempt to organize. A sample literature package was sent as a courtesy to ISS with notice of our intent. We wished to be transparent and above board. The ISS response was their illegal confiscation of our literature. It polarized our relationship, forced us into secrecy. In response to their delaying tactics we increased our demands to include the back pay differential plus interest.

 

National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). The National Labor Relations Act gives us the right to join together to improve wages and working conditions including the right to form a union where none currently exists. Examples of our rights include:

• Forming, or attempting to form, a union in your workplace;
• Joining a union whether the union is recognized by your employer or not;
• Assisting a union in organizing your fellow employees;
• Refusing to do any or all of these things.
• To be fairly represented by a union

ISS violated our rights with their heavy handed confiscation of our literature forcing us to file charges against ISS to prevent future interference with our rights (see NLRB).

 

Department of Labor - Bureau of Labor Statistics. We then discovered the mean wage rate for our job description is reported by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics here. The Federal government reports the hourly mean wage at $19.04/hr for bridge and lock tenders in Florida. The Service Contract Act (SCA) demands that "no less than the wage rates and fringe benefits found prevailing in the locality". We deserve no less.

 

David vs. Goliath. ISS World according to their website is a multinational corporation with over 530,000 employees in facility management, cleaning, support, property, catering and security services, headquartered in Copenhagen, Denmark. They are a giant among outsourcing facility service companies. This isn't the first time Florida bridge tenders were exploited.  See the Sun Sentinel article here. Either ISS, ICA or both are taking more than their fair share of our pay and we asked FDOT to audit their contractors (a right they claim in their contracts).

 

We are not facility cleaners! The following is quoted from the FDOT manual. "The State of Florida has entrusted to your care thousands of lives and a valuable piece of machinery, the proper operation and care of which is of primary importance to the people using the highways and waterways of Florida. “ ISS should refrain from higher level outsourcing if they don't recognize the need to provide adequate protection, fair wages and benefits to more responsible positions. FDOT should protect their bridge operators from profiteering and exploitation at the hands of their contractors.

 

See for Yourself. All our correspondence is posted here. Start at #1 (in April) you'll see we begged for a fair and easy resolution. It didn't have to go any further. Click on the numbered correspondence links to get the full picture. You'll see we offered concessions in an effort to reach an early resolution and repair the damage. After more than 5 months of stonewalling those concessions are now off the table and we organizing under the IBEW (International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers).

Delay is a polarizing tactic. Stonewalling made things worse by building and strengthening the adversarial relationship. It also uncovered a growing number of weaknesses. During the delay an unfortunate incident disclosed a lack of clear indemnification from personal legal liability while on the job. Under their Agreement, ICA indemnifies the FDOT but who indemnifies us? It turns out we are performing our job at personal financial risk and deserve personal indemnification.

 

There's a conflict of interest Operators working for ISS are discouraged from writing reports critical of ICA. It's a case where the subcontractor is protecting the prime contractor. Many bridges suffer the ravages of deferred maintenance and obsolescence but bridge tenders are discouraged from volunteering deficiencies to inspectors and risks remain unchecked. The FDOT suffers from two filters between themselves and their bridge operators.

 

ICA Responsibilities. ICA is on record. They have a fundamental responsibility to prevent exploitation by their subcontractor and can no longer feign ignorance nor look the other way. Could this be a case where ICA and ISS are in complicity - both engaged in wage theft? It needs an audit to uncover the facts but FDOT is hiding behind the verbiage in their contract.

 

FDOT. We ask you again to find out who's taking more than their fair share of our pay. You have the right to audit and discover the differential between what you pay ICA and the wage and benefits we receive. Please allow us to influence any new Agreement that outsources bridge tenders to insure that we are unshackled from being employed "at will" so you receive candid direct reporting from your operators. Safeguard the wages of hundreds of seniors being exploited by the profiteering of ICA and ISS by including "no less than the wage and benefits found prevailing in the locality" in your next outsourcing Agreements.

 

Progress. Their days of wage theft are coming to an end. The IBEW has filed a petition with the NLRB who will mail secret ballots to every bridge tender in early January. ISS temporarily forced us into a period of silence while we organized. Now, we can again openly voice our opinion. When you get your secret ballot be sure to vote YES. Follow the instructions on completing and mailing back your ballot carefully. Thank you for your support. 

The Organizing Committee