Pubdate: Fri, 10 Feb 2006
Source: Providence Journal, The (RI)
Copyright: 2006 The Providence Journal Company
Contact:  http://www.projo.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/352
Author: Benjamin N. Gedan
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/coke.htm (Cocaine)

MUNICIPAL UNION PRESIDENT STEPS DOWN IN WAKE OF DRUG CHARGES

WEST WARWICK -- Humberto "Herbie" Guerreiro, arrested at T.F. Green 
Airport early Saturday for allegedly trying to smuggle drugs onto a 
plane, has resigned as president of the union representing nearly 100 
municipal employees.

John J. Tassoni Jr., a state senator and the union's senior business 
agent, said Guerreiro resigned at his request by telephone on 
Wednesday. The union's vice president, Elizabeth Costa, who is the 
administrative assistant for Police Chief Peter T. Brousseau, has 
assumed the top post.

"I asked Herbie to resign as president until this can be rectified," 
Tassoni, D-Smithfield, said yesterday. "He has agreed to do that."

Guerreiro, 45, a mechanic in the Department of Public Works, was 
arrested by airport police after a metal detector at a security 
checkpoint disclosed bags of cocaine and marijuana duct-taped to his 
leg, according to state police Lt. Kevin Hopkins, acting chief of the 
airport police.

The police charged Guerreiro with felony cocaine possession and 
misdemeanor possession of marijuana.

Guerreiro did not return a call for comment yesterday. On Tuesday, he 
said he was staying with relatives out of state.

Yesterday, his sister-in-law, Jessica Bassett, described him as a 
loyal town employee with a "heart of gold."

"I want people to remember what a good person he is. He's done so 
much for this town we should stand by his side," Bassett, 25, of West 
Warwick, said. "He's just a very good person, and he made a mistake."

Guerreiro was hired as a Fire Department mechanic on Nov. 1, 1988. He 
later was assigned to perform fleet maintenance at the public works 
headquarters. He has been on leave, receiving workers compensation, 
for about a year with a shoulder injury.

For the past six months Guerreiro had been engaged in contract 
negotiations for his union, Local 2045 of Council 94, American 
Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.

The town recently signed new contracts with the police and 
firefighters unions, but the Local 2045 members are still working 
under a contract that expired last June. The slow pace of 
negotiations was caused, in part, by a union boycott of the talks 
last August in protest of comments made by Republican Town Council 
member Leo J. Costantino Jr., a member of the town's negotiating team.

The two sides met more than 10 times under Guerreiro's leadership. 
But when they next meet, he will not be at the table.

"I also asked him to resign off the negotiating committee," Tassoni 
said yesterday. "He will be doing that when he gets home. He needs to 
step aside and manage" his criminal case.

Town Manager Wolfgang Bauer was on vacation yesterday and unavailable 
for comment. The public works director, Paul J. Thomas, said he 
expects Guerreiro to be suspended without pay but did not know 
whether his workers compensation payments would be curtailed.

Guerreiro's employment status will probably be on the Town Council 
agenda for its meeting next Tuesday, council President John J. Flynn 
said yesterday.

Union officials said Guerreiro will not be replaced on the union 
negotiating team, which includes Tassoni, Costa, Russell Marsocci, 
Paula Lemoi, Tracey Smeals and Kevin Reyes. "Our main objective right 
now is to get through negotiations," Costa said yesterday.

The nearly 100 union members -- employees at the Department of Public 
Works, West Warwick Civic Center and wastewater treatment plant -- 
will meet next week to discuss the leadership change, said Costa, who 
served as union president for 10 years before Guerreiro's election.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman