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Union ire at security cuts

The union representing security guards at some city homeless shelters vented some outrage Mayor Nutter's way yesterday after a budget cut resulted in a slash in their salaries.

The union representing security guards at some city homeless shelters vented some outrage Mayor Nutter's way yesterday after a budget cut resulted in a slash in their salaries.

Members of Service Employee International Union, Local 32BJ, waved signs in City Council deriding the mayor's budget cuts.

"Don't cut the budget on my family's back," one sign said.

The union signed a three-year contract last May with Scotlandyard Security Services Ltd., which provides guards to some shelters.

Wayne MacManiman, a union supervisor, said that guards saw their pay rise from $9 an hour to $13 after unionization. Pay rose to more than $16 an hour when benefits were included. The work is dangerous, MacManiman said, and includes disarming homeless people at the shelters.

"These shelters are some of the most dangerous places in the city to secure," he said. "They pull off butcher knives and razors."

The city in November, dealing with an expanding budget deficit, asked four shelters to provide their own security coverage, like 16 other shelters in the city.

The union yesterday said that that change hit its members in the wallet this month. MacManiman said that the union is seeking to enforce its contract with the company.

The union called on Nutter to use federal stimulus money to help pay shelter security guards.

Employees at Scotlandyard Security Services yesterday said that no one from the company was available to comment.

In other council business, Councilman Darrell Clarke introduced legislation that is the first step toward potentially changing the charter-required way that the city advertises public hearings and other meetings.

The charter now requires ads in three daily newspapers with paid circulation. Clarke is proposing a ballot question for the May primary election, asking voters to give the city more flexibility.

Clarke said that the move, under consideration for some time, was prompted by the recent bankruptcy filing by Philadelphia Media Holdings, which owns the Daily News, Inquirer and Philly.com. Clarke said that the city should have the option to place ads in free newspapers or on the Internet.

City Council already offers a calendar on its Web site of upcoming meetings and hearings, including agendas and other documents. *