Nonunion security guards of Bedrock-owned buildings in downtown Detroit found out Friday that their third-party employer, SecurAmerica, plans on increasing their wages to $15 per hour, said Izabela Miltko-Ivkovich, communications director for Service Employees International Union Local 1.

The raise came Friday, in the form of an emailed memo obtained by the Free Press, after guards made the news last month with a one-day strike and walkout.

They took to the streets to fight for unionizing rights and living wages. Some of the guards were getting paid as little as $11 an hour according to SEIU Local 1, the union that helped organize the strike.

It is unclear what the effect of this change will be, but guards already have differing opinions.

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“Our unfair labor practice strike showed SecurAmerica we are serious about winning a better future for ourselves and our families, and higher pay is the first step on that path," security officer Rudolph T. Muhammad said in a statement released by SEIU Local 1.

Despite Muhammad's optimism, Dolores McDaniel believes that SecurAmerica raised the wages in part to deter their employees from entering a union.

She believes the change is a positive one, but that there is much work to be done.

"I want them to give us what we have been asking for for a long time," McDaniel said. "To give us the right to join together and get what we all need and deserve. To be legally protected."

McDaniel also said that she believes security guards will continue to organize until they are allowed to unionize.

Despite multiple attempts by the Free Press to contact SecurAmerica, they could not be reached for comment.