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Security guards who work at the offices of some of Silicon Valley's biggest tech companies—including OpenAI and Anthropic—have voted to approve a strike. About 14,000 security workers are part of this union, which is negotiating for higher pay and better benefits. These guards don't work directly for the tech companies; instead, they work for staffing agencies that provide security services to multiple companies like Google, Meta, and Salesforce.
On Wednesday, the union officially authorized what's called an "unfair-labor-practice strike," with security officers marching through San Francisco near the offices of OpenAI and Anthropic. It's not yet clear if a strike will actually happen or when it might start. Anthropic has already asked its employees to work from home as a precaution, worried the strike could happen soon. The union's representative said they want the staffing companies to "stop playing games" and negotiate real pay raises, better training, and more respect for the officers.