Security guards, students and local residents gathered yesterday to protest stalled contract negotiations between the University and the guards' union and to call for guards to be paid a living wage.

About 35 people, including members of the Living Wage Campaign, met in front of University Hall shortly after 3 p.m. for a 30-minute demonstration and a short march around Mass. Hall.

"We are making less an hour without benefits than fast-food workers in Harvard Square," said Danny J. Meagher, a guard for the Harvard University Art Museums (HUAM).

Meagher, who makes "just over" $8 an hour, said he was promised to be given a raise to $9.23 one year after he was hired, but he never received the raise.

He said that he and other guards have educated themselves about the art they guard.

"We are a unique force of guards in the world," he said. "They should value us more than they do."

No raises have been given since 1995, according to the guards, and new guards have not been added to the force since 1990.

Negotiations for a new contract have been taking place since 1995. University spokesperson Joe Wrinn said there will be more meetings between the two sides in April.

"Ten years I've given to this place, and they've treated me like garbage for five of those years," said one guard at the rally. "It breaks my heart."

Security guard union president Stephen G. McCombe said one of the main reasons why several security guards protested yesterday is to show that they had support from Harvard students.

He said the quality of life at Harvard is "everyone's concern."

"People have a right to live the American dream," McCombe said.

Addressing the students, he said, "We also believe that you're part of our family as well...Everyone is entitled to living wage."

Guards said another reason for their protest was to respond to an ongoing dispute with the University about its community policing policy.

In an interview last month with The Crimson, Harvard University Police Department (HUPD) Chief Francis D. "Bud" Riley said he encountered resistance when he tried to start his community policing program, but McCombe said he offered no resistance to guards' inclusion in the program.