Nearly 14,000 security guards across California walked off the job Friday morning as they demand higher pay, better health care benefits and safer working conditions. The strike began around 4:30 a.m., just as Salesforce’s annual Dreamforce conference came to a close in San Francisco. About 50,000 people from major tech companies attended Dreamforce over the past three days. Companies including Salesforce, Google, OpenAI, Anthropic and Meta are among those that use contracted security guards and could be impacted by the walkout. The guards work for major security companies including Allied Universal, GardaWorld and Securitas and are represented by the Service Employees International Union. Those security companies provide guards to tech firms and events such as Dreamforce. Union members voted Tuesday to authorize the strike and later announced on social media that the walkout would begin Friday morning. The union accuses the security companies of engaging in bad-faith bargaining, illegally surveilling guards and unfairly retaliating against employees. The guards are seeking a path toward wages of $30 an hour. According to a UC Berkeley study cited by the union, guards currently earn about $20 an hour. They are also seeking better health care benefits, which the union says have not kept pace with the cost of living or the demands of the job. Other demands include safer working conditions and an end to what the union describes as unfair labor practices. The union is negotiating with the security companies, not the tech firms that contract with them. No specific picketing locations had been announced as of Friday morning. ...read more read less