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."
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MAP posted-by: Jo-D