AlliedBarton security officers who work at the Philadelphia Museum of Art voted in favor of a union, 68 to 55, in an election held Friday and Saturday at the museum, organizers reported this morning.

There are now about 130 museum guards employed by Conshococken-based AlliedBarton, which holds a contract with the museum for security services. The guards make $10.03 an hour.

Fabricio Rodriguez, an organizer with Philadelphia Jobs With Justice, which has assisted the independent Philadelphia Security Officers Union in its unionization campaign, said the next step would be for the union and AlliedBarton to "get on track" and establish a calender for talking about wages, benefits and other issues.

In a statement released through spokesman, Lawrence Rubin, AlliedBarton said: "We respect our employees' right to freely choose to be represented by a union. We look forward to working with the new union as we continue to provide our security officers with a fair wage and benefits program, and to continue to employ the best-qualified, best-trained security officers to serve visitors at the Philadelphia Museum of Art."