What will happen to Temple security guards when classes move online?

Staffing will likely be similar to how the university operates during the summer.

An Allied Universal Security Services guard sits in a Temple building on March 13. | JEREMY ELVAS / THE TEMPLE NEWS

Full-time security guards at Temple will likely maintain their hours while a small number of part-time workers will be laid off in light of the university’s suspension of in-person classes due to the spread of COVID-19, said Gabe Morgan, vice president of the Service Employees International Union, Local 32BJ.

Full-time workers, who comprise the “vast majority” of security officers in the city, will, therefore, likely be able to keep their health insurance, Morgan said. 

The changes will likely mimic those during summer break, Morgan said. Even buildings that are closed will need security, he added. 

However, Morgan cautioned, “this situation is different than anything we’ve ever faced before.”

Temple will be operating regular security hours next week as students move out, however, the university may close some buildings after business hours due to decreased use, wrote Ray Betzner, a spokesperson for the university, in an email to The Temple News.

The university will reevaluate the security needs in its buildings after next week, Betzner wrote. 

“Our first priority is keeping students safe and healthy,” Betzner wrote. “That is a commitment that will not end throughout the Spring semester. While we are encouraging everyone to go home, we also know we will have some students on campus through the end of the semester.”

Allied Universal, which employs security guards on Temple’s campus, is closely following the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other government health authorities in response to COVID-19, wrote Vanessa Showalter, a spokesperson for the company, in an email to The Temple News.

“Allied Universal is continuing to safeguard Temple University and University of Pennsylvania,” Showalter wrote. “We are committed to providing best-in-class security services during the current COVID-19 pandemic.”

Allied usually spreads its hours or places guards at other locations whenever Temple reduces hours for lower-need periods like summer and winter breaks, Betzner wrote.

2 Comments

  1. What you need to do is run a story about how Allied Universal has / is not giving us PPE, no masks, no hand sanitizer; nothing at all. They don’t even have a plan in place if an employee contracts COVID-19. Majority of all accounts including national accounts like FedEx; don’t even have paid sick leave or vacation.

    • I agree. I am a Allied Universal Security Professional for a hospital. We are supplied mask & gloves & hand sanitizer because we are in a hospital but PPE no when we are in elevators with the COVID-19 patients. The nurses have gowns,face mask, and goggles but saying we don’t need it. Why not? We are in the elevators with these patients as well as the ICU floor. The hospital is making stuff up as they go cause they don’t know what to do. Allied don’t have a plan in place either here if an employee contracts COVID-19 as well. Which our security office is very,very small.

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