Pubdate: Wed, 19 Dec 2007 Source: Day, The (New London,CT) Copyright: 2007 The Day Publishing Co. Contact: http://www.theday.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/293 Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/testing.htm (Drug Test) NL Unions Split On Talk Of Expanded Drug Testing New London -- A proposal by City Councilor Michael Buscetto III to subject all city and school employees to random drug testing drew mixed reactions Tuesday from the unions representing many of the employees who would be affected. "Our guys are clean. They're upstanding citizens. We've got nothing to hide," said Lt. Marshall "Chip" Segar, president of the New London Police Union AFSCME Local 724. The police union, Segar said, would be willing to negotiate such a change provided testing procedures were fair and treatment and rehabilitation were available to someone testing positive. Rocco Basilica, president of the International Association of Firefighters Local 1522, endorsed discussions with the city on random drug testing while standing next to Buscetto outside of City Hall Tuesday afternoon. The proposal got a cooler reception from three other unions. "I really don't see that happening whatsoever," said Jai Wrighten-Kelly, co-president of the New London Education Association. Any changes to the closed contracts of the public works union, Local 1378 of AFSCME Council 4, and municipal employees union, Local 1303-125 of AFSCME Council 4, would have to be negotiated with those unions, they said through AFSCME Council 4 spokesman Larry Dorman. "The City of New London did not raise any concerns about broadening random drug testing in recent negotiations with our bargaining units," he said. Buscetto's proposal to expand the city's random drug testing program to include all of the city's approximately 310 employees and 435 school employees passed the City Council's Public Safety Committee, which he heads, unanimously Monday night. It will go before the full council, expected to approve it, on Jan. 7. Currently the only New London employees subject to random drug testing are the approximately 45 who have a commercial driver's license, Personnel Coordinator Bernadette Welch said. Required under state law to test at least half of its employees with commercial driver's licenses each year, the city administers about 30 to 35 random drug tests per year to employees selected by computer. City Council approval of the proposal to expand random drug testing would not result in immediate implementation of such testing but would serve as a directive to Welch and to City Manager Martin H. Berliner to attempt to negotiate such a program with city unions. Cooperation of those unions would be required in order for any of their members without commercial driver's licenses to be subject to random testing, Welch said. Contracts for the police union and municipal employees union don't expire until June 30, 2011, and the public works union contract does not expire until June 30, 2010. Those unions would have to agree to return to the bargaining table and negotiate an amendment to their contracts in order for the city to even raise the issue of random drug testing prior to those dates, Welch said. If the unions are willing to negotiate amendments to their contracts allowing expanded random drug testing, she said, they are likely to ask for things in return that may impact the city's budget. Any negotiated contract amendments would also have to be ratified by the unions' membership and approved by the City Council. The firefighters' union contract expires June 30, 2008, and the city has the right to raise the issue of expanding random drug testing during negotiations that will begin in the spring, Welch said. The Board of Education, not the city, is responsible for negotiations with the teachers' union, whose contract is good for a couple more years, and with unions representing administrators, secretaries and custodians. "I believe what the council is asking for is appropriate. I think to expect that this is going to happen quickly is a mistake," Welch said. A narrower expansion of random drug testing might be more realistic to achieve, she said, such as the inclusion among those subject to random drug testing of welders, electricians, those driving city vehicles and other positions for which drug use would present a safety issue. Democratic and Republican councilors reiterated their support for the proposal Tuesday. Buscetto's plan arose from the "disappointing" discovery that most city and school employees were not already subject to random drug testing, he said, and not from the revelations in a recently released report by a private investigator hired by the city that some members of the Public Works Department have regularly used drugs on the job and in at least one city vehicle. But that report has informed reaction to the proposal. If the city has a drug problem within the Public Works Department, "Don't blame the rest of us," said Wrighten-Kelly, who added that school employees are already subject to fingerprinting and background checks. Taking a different view, Segar called the random testing proposal a step to "resurrect some public trust ... in light of the public works issue." - --- MAP posted-by: Jo-D