Fired workers claim living wage support backlash in NLRB charge

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Five former employees of an Elm Grove security company that contracts with Milwaukee County claim their support of a county living wage ordinance cost them their jobs.

Orion Security Corp. fired Andre Thomas, Kurtis Blake, Tim Brown and Kevin Walker on Tuesday and fired Santana Walker on Wednesday, according to a charge filed with the National Labor Relations Board, after they staged a walk-out Monday to try to force the company to raise its wages to the amount prescribed by the county ordinance.

Wisconsin Jobs Now! Inc., a Milwaukee nonprofit that advocates for low-wage and nonunionized workers, filed the NLRB charge Tuesday on the employees’ behalf. The group amended the charge twice as other workers were fired.

Orion Security, which provides services for the county’s Behavioral Health Division, has not responded to the charge. A request for comment from a company representative was not immediately returned.

The Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors adopted the living wage ordinance March 20. The ordinance applies to contractors and subcontractors hired under county concession or supportive care agreements for more than $20,000, to companies leasing county property or using county assistance to pay a lease of at least $20,000, and to companies that receive at least $1 million in financial assistance from the county for economic development.

The ordinance defines a living wage as one that is equal to the poverty income level established by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services for someone who works 2,080 hours in a year and has a family of four. During debate over the ordinance, the wage was determined to be $11.32 an hour.

Richard Saks, an attorney with Milwaukee-based Hawks Quindel SC who represents Wisconsin Jobs Now, said the former employees were not unionized and earned an average of $8.50 an hour. Orion Security’s contract with the county predates the living wage ordinance, he said, and because the ordinance is not retroactive, it does not apply to existing contracts.

However, Saks said, Kevin Walker testified in favor of the ordinance in front of the Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors during debate earlier this year and identified himself as an Orion Security employee. In mid-May, the company obtained a video of that testimony and reprimanded Kevin Walker.

Kevin Walker and the other employees staged a 15-minute walk-out Monday, according to the NLRB charge, in an attempt to force the company to voluntarily pay the living wage and to convey the employees’ interest in unionizing.