Garda Security Employees at Bowie, MD SPEAK OUT Against Garda Cash Logistics

by Garda Security News Wednesday, Sep. 19, 2012 at 5:08 PM

The purpose of this letter is to bring to light serious violations of ethical standards, company policies, DOT regulations and State law that have been committed by the Garda security management at the Bowie, MD Branch.

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Attn: Human Garda Cash Logistic Security Resources Department



The purpose of this letter is to bring to light serious violations of ethical standards, company policies, DOT regulations and State law that have been committed by the Garda security management at the Bowie, MD Branch. It is the common belief of the employee’s of this facility that the current management is ill-suited for their respective positions as they routinely demonstrate a lack of respect for employees, a general abuse of the authority inherent in their positions and a disregard for the safety and well being of their employees. Although a complete list of witnessed transgressions would be impractical in this format, it is necessary for illustration purposes to recap a sampling of some of the more serious violations committed.

********took charge of the facility as the Branch Manager in December of last year. Shortly thereafter, without warning, he unlawfully destroyed and discarded the personal locks affixed to employee’s lockers, emptied said lockers and left the contents unsecured in the facility break room, discarding some personal property in the process. This quickly demonstrated a lack of respect for the employee’s under his charge. Mr****** has hired premise guards for the facility, as new hires with no training or weapons experience, he issued them company handguns and demanded they carry them in performance of their duties despite the fact that these guards are not licensed to carry these weapons and doing so is a violation of MD state handgun law and additionally is contrary to a safe working environment to allow dangerous implements to be handled by individuals without the safety training or qualifications to do so. Mr. ****** routinely instructs employees to operate vehicles that are in unsafe operating condition, including vehicles with defective safety restraints, serious fluid leaks, and even one vehicle that has been missing the front bumper for months. As a demonstration of questionable ethical standards, Mr. *****and the Assistant Branch Manager, ********, held a conversation in the presence of multiple employees in which Ms. *******made a statement that she would like to fire the entire vault staff and start over. When these comments were reported to the vault staff, and members of the vault staff questioned the managers about it, both of them denied the statements, despite witnesses to the conversation and despite the fact that proven dishonesty is grounds for termination. It should also be noted that three members of the vault staff were later terminated for reasons relating to a relatively minor policy infraction regarding horseplay, presumably indicating that the managers in fact followed through on the intent of their conversation. In another instance of policy violation and questionable ethics, Mr. *******issued instructions and had employees sign statements indicating that they would not “drive and hop,” that is that a single employee would not function as both the driver and messenger on a route. Only weeks later due to scheduling issues management instructed an employee to violate this policy under threat of disciplinary action for insubordination. This act was clearly unethical, unsafe and blatantly hypocritical. As a final example of questionable activity, though many more could be provided, the Assistant Manager has submitted a doctor’s note that indicates that she is not fit to work on the trucks in any capacity. With these physical restrictions in effect she has left work early and informed employees that she is off to play softball, which would clearly require more physical exertion than simply driving a truck, and frankly borders on fraud.

Again these are merely examples of the types of behaviors that take place routinely at this facility which threaten safety in the workplace and make for a hostile environment. In response it would be prudent to at the very least send these managers to receive training in ethics and general management practices as well as transfer them to other facilities as they would be unlikely to ever regain the respect they have lost in their leadership positions in this branch. If these actions are not possible, then it may be appropriate for these managers to sever ties with this company.

For more information please visit: www.GardaSecurity.org

http://www.gardasecurity.org/Garda-Security-Press-Release.pdf



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