George Darrah used to work as a security guard in Stouffer College House, until he was transferred, against his wishes, in September.
Last night, he returned to Penn to tell students and faculty his story.
He and four of his colleagues were suspended, then transferred from their jobs in September after petitioning University President Amy Gutmann for her assistance in their bid to unionize Penn's security employees. All the petitioning, Darrah said, was done after work, while he was off the clock.
"I feel like I have a choice of what I'm allowed to do after work," he said.
Darrah, 60, works for AlliedBarton Security, the company to which the University contracts its security services.
"When they suspended me, they violated my rights," Darrah said. "They, to this day, have not told me why I was suspended."
"They told us we were being punished and that they would do an investigation," Darrah said. "Whatever happened to innocent until proven guilty?"
After being transferred, the displaced guards held a news conference to publicize their story. Penn later asked AlliedBarton to return the guards to their positions.
As previously reported in The Daily Pennsylvanian, AlliedBarton spokesman Larry Rubin said that after the completion of an investigation into the appropriateness of their behavior in presenting the petition, Darrah and fellow guard Mitchell McClain were returned to their old posts.
Both accepted.
However, as previously reported, the three other guards had been transferred to a facility which later changed security providers.
Two of the guards, given the option of moving or remaining at their new post with the new company, opted to stay with the new company -- the third had already quit.
The other three guards were never invited back to Penn because they were no longer employed by AlliedBarton, McClain said.
Had they chosen to remain working for AlliedBarton, Rubin said he believes they also would have stayed with the company.
Darrah, however, was upset by the transfer.
"It's not like they were out looking for other jobs," Darrah said. "They were thrown into those positions."
In spite of their struggles, the two guards back at Penn continue their advocacy for unionization.
"A lot of people have to work overtime," McClain said. "At $8 an hour, you can't make it. We have to work overtime to get by."
However, to these guards, this problem is about more than just themselves.
To Darrah and McClain, although they have their jobs back, the issue is far from dead.
"I got suspended for fighting for a union that would help me and would help my co-workers," Darrah said. "They will do this again unless they are stopped."
