Reform Committee Member Calls for Hearings on U.S. Government's Largest Security Contractor

[Omaha Steve]

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House Government Reform Committee Member Calls for Hearings on U.S. Government's Largest Security Contractor, Wackenhut, in Response to Charges of Racism, Discrimination and Poor Performance

City Councilwoman Wendy Greuel also vows to examine Wackenhut's contracts
with Los Angeles

WASHINGTON, March 9 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A congressional hearing
is needed to examine charges of racism, discrimination and poor performance
against the federal government's largest security supplier, Wackenhut, said
United States Representative and member of the House Committee on
Government Reform Diane Watson (D-Calif.) during a meeting of the Los
Angeles Commission on Wackenhut and Security Standards in Los Angeles
Saturday.
Rep. Watson, joined by California state Sen. Mark Ridley-Thomas,
Assemblyman Mervyn Dymally, Los Angeles Councilwoman Wendy Greuel, the Rev.
Eric Lee of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference of Greater L.A.,
and Dr. Maulana Karenga of California State University-Long Beach, heard
testimony from current and former employees of the nation's second largest
security contractor about Wackenhut's business practices.
Three Wackenhut security officers from the U.S. Department of Energy's
nuclear facility in Oak Ridge, Tenn., told the commission about the hostile
environment at the complex that included repeated use of racial epithets,
an incident involving a noose, and hiring discrimination against other
African American officers.
"I am appalled that we have contractors here with federal government
contracts being paid by tax payers' dollars...practicing the behavior of
the '50s and the '60s," said Rep. Watson. "I will go to the chair of
Homeland Security...Not only will I report what I've heard today, but I
will ask to hold a hearing."
This is the latest in a string of calls by members of Congress to look
further into Wackenhut's business practices. Just last month in a letter to
the Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Energy, Rep. Bennie G.
Thompson (D-Miss.), chairman of the Committee on Homeland Security of the
U.S. House of Representatives, said he was "troubled by the department's
use of to provide security at our nation's critical nuclear and
energy facilities."
Also at the L.A. commission meeting, a South African security officer
employed by Wackenhut's parent company, Group 4 Securicor, testified about
racism black workers have faced at work, including being called "baboons"
and other derogatory terms, and allegations of toilets reserved for whites
only.
Rep. Watson, who also serves on the U.S. House of Representatives'
Committee on International Relations Subcommittee on Africa, Global Human
Rights and International Operations and Nonproliferation, announced during
the meeting that she would encourage the committee to hold hearings on
Group 4's treatment of workers in South Africa and other countries. She
also vowed to look into the pattern of abuses by Group 4 in its three dozen
contracts to guard U.S. embassies overseas in countries such as Mozambique
and Panama.
Security officers also testified before the commission about problems
at Wackenhut-guarded facilities that potentially compromised the security
of those sites, including the Department of Homeland Security headquarters
in Washington, D.C.
"In this time of heightened security threats that include chemical and
biological weapons, Wackenhut did not have a procedure to detect these
potentially deadly agents nor did it provide adequate training to its
officers on how to handle these situations," said former Wackenhut security
officer Derrick Daniels, who worked at DHS.
Another former Wackenhut officer, Terence Purnell, told the panel he
was fired when managers learned he was part of an effort of security
officers to form a union with the Service Employees International Union
(SEIU). Last January, the National Labor Relations Board ruled that
Wackenhut illegally intimidated and interrogated workers at the IMF.
Wackenhut is in a position to lead efforts to raise standards in the
industry, yet the company is standing in the way of security officers in
Los Angeles and around the country trying to improve their lives. The
second- largest private security company in the United States, Wackenhut
has more than $5 million in contracts with the city of Los Angeles to
protect buildings that include the Watts and Van Nuys city halls.
In the coming weeks, the commission will release a report with more
detailed findings on Wackenhut that will be distributed to members of
Congress.

For more information, visit http://www.EyeonWackenhut.com.