Baltimore City-contracted security officers are set to go on strike over unfair labor practices (ULP) starting Thursday, Aug. 6 at 12:30 p.m.
This is the second time the non-union security officers will strike over the alleged unfair labor practices of heat and wage theft violations against their employer, city contractor Metropolitan Protective Services (MPS). Among the ULP allegations, the security officers accuse MPS of failing to ensure a pregnant officer received her legally required heat-related break or sufficient water when the heat index was 104 degrees.
On July 27, 2026, SEIU 32BJ filed a complaint with Maryland Occupational Safety and Health (MOSH) over violations of Maryland heat stress standards. According to the complaint, during periods of extreme heat in Baltimore, MPS did not train employees properly on heat exposures, communicate with them when the heat index exceeded 90 degrees, provide legally required breaks or accessible drinking water. If so, those failures leave officers vulnerable to heat stress and its associated illnesses, including heat stroke and exhaustion.
Regarding the ULP of wage theft, 32BJ filed a separate complaint on Aug. 3, 2026, with the Maryland Department of Labor Employment Standards Services against MPS over violations of overtime and wage payment laws. The complaint includes details of over 250 hours of unpaid or improperly paid overtime with a total of nearly $9,000 in missed wages for six employees.
After the first strike on April 9, non-union security officers filed unfair labor practice charges alleging six MPS officers were fired, sent home, or removed from the schedule. Most of those officers are still removed from their original posts, as of June 30, 2026.
MPS is already in hot water in Washington, D.C., as under a final binding judgment they owe D.C. workers more than $50,000 over failure to pay accrued vacation pay. MPS has not complied with this judgment and may be at risk for garnishment and seizure of assets, which may leave MPS unable to pay its Baltimore workforce the money they say they are owed.
MPS employs at least 70 officers at public housing units run by the Baltimore Housing Authority (BHA). They receive $15 million from the BHA and $6 million from Department of Government Services.
SEIU 32BJ is the largest property service workers union in the country, with 190,000 members in 12 states and 1,700 in Baltimore.
