Tech giants have a new headache: a looming strike by their security guards

Security workers guarding the California offices of tech companies like Anthropic, Google, and OpenAI are planning to strike this week.

A strike could lead to office closures and spark work-from-home orders, though Bay Area tech companies have not announced any yet. Anthropic told San Francisco staff in late August to work remotely for two days after hearing from its security staffing firm, Allied Universal, that security teams might strike, Business Insider reported.

The strike notice arrives at a tense moment for the AI industry, particularly Anthropic. Last week, researcher Jacob Coxon announced that he was leaving Anthropic, writing that the race for superintelligent AI amounts to "gambling with our lives" and that "no other human activity poses this level of danger." His post on X sparked a torrent of debate on AI's safety.

An SEIU-USWW spokesperson told Business Insider that the union and the security companies are holding bargaining sessions on Wednesday and Thursday. The security staffing firms include Allied, Securitas, GardaWorld, and several others.

On Tuesday, the union planned to march through downtown San Francisco to Salesforce Tower, per the press release. Security workers first announced that they'd authorized this strike at a San Francisco rally on September 3.

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Allied University says it does not comment on ongoing labor negotiations, adding that its "priority remains supporting our employees and delivering for our clients."

Meta declined to comment. Amazon, Microsoft, Salesforce, OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, and Nvidia did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Business Insider.

Correction: September 15, 2026 — An earlier version of this story misspelled SEIU-USWW.