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."