UNIONS WANT EMPLOYERS TO HELP IN ISLE DRUG FIGHT

Officials Discourage Workplace Practices That Do Not Offer Treatment To Workers

Two top union officials told lawmakers yesterday that the state's private
employers need to be part of a drug abuse solution, if only to save themselves
money in the long run.

Eric Gill, financial secretary-treasurer of Local 5 of the Hotel Employees and
Restaurant Employees union, and Harold Dias, president of the state AFL-CIO and
business manager and financial secretary of the International Brotherhood of
Electrical Workers Local 1357, testified before the Joint House-Senate Task
Force on Ice and Drug Abatement.

The typical "two strikes" drug policy at most companies is structured in a way
for the employee to fail, Dias said.

This is especially true for crystal methamphetamine, or "ice," users who are
referred to treatment programs that unrealistically assume the employee can go
"cold turkey" and terminates the employee when they can't, he said.

The company then faces the costs of hiring and training new workers instead of
rehiring the rehabilitated employee, Dias said.

Gill said drug addiction is an illness that needs to be approached from a
medical and social perspective and not a punitive perspective.

The union may ask employers to support a substance abuse treatment fund as part
of the union's existing health care fund, Gill said.

Gill also supported legislation to give drug abuse treatment parity in health
insurance coverage with medical and mental illness ailments.

Chuck Kelley, director of sales at Outrigger Enterprises, said employers must
balance their desire to assist employees with drug problems and the
responsibility to maintain a safe environment for other employees and
customers.

"We want the work environment where employees can admit mistakes, learn from
their mistakes, receive treatment or help if needed to solve problems and
grow," he said. "If this approach is taken to the extreme, however, if
companies are too soft, drug users will take over the workplace."

Outrigger has a pre-employment drug screening, drug education programs, drug
testing and confidential assistance programs for employees with drug abuse
problems, and medical benefits for rehabilitation programs, he said.

However, employees who steal, threaten or deal drugs on the property are fired
"even if an employee's judgment is clouded by drugs," he said.

Kelley said it's unfortunate that when it comes to ice, most users "need to
bottom out, most need to lose their jobs, lose their families, lose all of
their financial resources before they are willing to come forward and address
the problem.

"This is unfortunate, because if they were to seek help while they are still
employed they would find many resources available to them," he said.

Carol Tao of HPM Builders said the Big Island company's start of random drug
testing among its 175 employees has seen a 50 percent drop in workers'
compensation claims.

The growing ice problem on the Big Island, especially in the Puna area, "makes
it difficult for employers to find dependable, stable workers and has increased
our company's losses due to theft," she said.