3 minBusiness
Security workers at OpenAI and Anthropic vote to authorize strike
Unionized security guards who protect AI companies including OpenAI, Anthropic, Salesforce, and Google have voted to authorize a strike amid stalled contract negotiations over pay and benefits.
Security workers who guard the offices of some of Silicon Valley’s most prominent artificial intelligence companies have voted to authorize a strike, signaling a potential work stoppage if contract negotiations continue to stall. The unionized employees, represented by SEIU-United Service Workers West, provide building security for tech firms including OpenAI, Anthropic, Salesforce, and Google.
The union has been bargaining with major security contractors such as Allied Universal and Securitas. On Wednesday, workers picketed in San Francisco to protest what they describe as inadequate wage offers. The union has pushed for a $30 minimum wage and expanded benefits, but says management has not moved meaningfully on those demands.
According to the union, after 19 bargaining sessions Allied Universal proposed a wage increase of only 25 cents per hour in 2027, with no raises for the next three years. SEIU-USWW president David Huerta called the offer “shameful, wrong, and deeply, deeply disrespectful.” Workers have said they struggle to afford the high cost of living in the Bay Area on their current pay.
The potential strike has already had ripple effects. Anthropic reportedly instructed employees to work from home last week in anticipation of a walkout by unionized security staff. Huerta said the company’s response shows it understands how vital these workers are. “Clearly Anthropic understands how indispensable security workers are, even if the companies bargaining with them don’t,” he told KQED.
Security has become an increasingly sensitive issue for AI companies in recent months. Growing public hostility toward the industry has led tech firms to invest heavily in protective measures. High-profile executives such as OpenAI’s Sam Altman have faced multiple attempted attacks, and police in San Francisco have fielded threats against employees of OpenAI and Anthropic, according to the Wall Street Journal. Some companies have begun hiring armed guards, and firms including Palantir, Oracle, and Salesforce increased security spending by millions of dollars in 2025.
The labor action fits a broader pattern in the tech industry, where ancillary workers such as janitors and cafeteria staff have used strikes and protests to pressure employers during contract disputes. In recent years, janitors in San Francisco walked off the job in response to layoffs at Meta and Twitter, and food service workers have protested over contract negotiations that failed to produce meaningful raises.
As security services become more critical to AI companies, the workers providing them may gain greater leverage in negotiations. Huerta framed the issue in stark terms: “We invite workers at Anthropic and elsewhere to consider who will protect them if security officers can’t afford to live here.”
