On Wednesday morning Portland DSA officers Juno Suarez and Olivia Katbi Smith testified at city council in opposition to a proposed expansion of the city’s contract with G4S, the world’s largest private security company, to the tune of $2,972,798.72 of our taxpayer dollars.
G4S contracts with ICE and the Israeli Defense Force, has been implicated in torture at Guantanamo Bay and abuses at immigration detention centers in the U.S. and the U.K., and was involved in guarding the Dakota Access Pipeline. Portland’s contract with G4S is an implicit endorsement of the company’s behavior. That is incompatible with our values as a city.
City Council Commissioners insisted that the contract was a simple matter of adjusting for a cost-of-living increase for the personnel, and that the actual contract will be up for renewal in the spring of 2019. As a socialist organization, we naturally support paying workers a fair wage. However, we know that only a fraction of the money is earmarked for the COLA adjustment — $581,601.72, or 19.5%. The far larger part funds expanded security operations.
Portland DSA suggested instituting ethical guidelines for procurement and directly employing the staff it views as critical. Mayor Ted Wheeler commented favorably about DSA’s proposal that the city could directly employ its security guards (“insourcing” instead of “outsourcing”), which would add an extra level of public accountability and allow taxpayers to avoid contributing to the profits of questionable corporations. Commissioner Chloe Eudaly agreed enthusiastically that the city should end its relationship with G4S after the contract expires next year.
While expressing interest in these ideas, unfortunately the city council voted unanimously in favor of the nearly $3 million funding request.
Last year the city voted to divest city money from corporations after pressure from environmental and human rights activists who called attention to corporate bad actors like Wells Fargo, which was invested in the Dakota Access Pipeline, and Caterpillar, whose products are used in the ongoing illegal occupation of Palestinian territory. The city council recognized it was unethical to remain invested in companies whose actions and products harmed people, yet it continues to pay G4S. If officials can recognize that our money shouldn’t be invested in criminal corporations, they must take the next logical step and conclude that we shouldn’t be hiring them either.
Portland DSA further wants to caution against the endless expansion of “security.” Safety in our community is better achieved through public services such as mental health care and housing and through respect for all Portlander’s civil and human rights. We also believe that in the future, the city should take greater responsibility for the conduct of security personnel, either by enacting strict standards for conduct with any company it contracts or by employees security personnel directly. The privatization of security increases the risk of abuse and decreases options for accountability by creating distance between the city and security personnel, accountability which has proven difficult enough to produce within the Portland Police Bureau even without these additional barriers.
Granting G4S more money for security operations and contingency makes Portlanders less safe by empowering a company that has shown clear disregard for human rights and dignity in its operations around the world. The city council should only approve funds that will directly go to local workers’ paychecks, not to expanded G4S operations or to G4S executives. At the earliest possible opportunity, Portland should sever ties with G4S completely as part of its ongoing commitment to becoming a true sanctuary city.