FIREFIGHTER CONTRACT INCLUDES DRUG TESTING

City Council Set to Vote Monday On Four-Year Pact

SCHENECTADY - The City Council expects to vote on a four-year contract with
the firefighters union Monday night that would grant pay raises and, for
the first time, require drug testing.

"That's a very good provision," Mayor Albert P. Jurczynski said Friday. "I
think that may be the first in the state. Kudos to the negotiating team and
the administration, as well as the firefighters, for going along with that."

Other city officials would not comment on the specifics of the deal.

The city has not succeeded in requiring random drug testing of police
officers. The police union declared an impasse in May in its contract
negotiations, and asked the state Public Employment Relations Board to
appoint a mediator.

Public Safety Commissioner Daniel B. Boyle, who has been on the job less
than four weeks and didn't participate in the negotiations with the
firefighters, said it was "a good contract for both management and the
firefighters."

The city was represented in the negotiations by attorney James Roemer.

The contract would cover the years 2001 to 2004. The last contract expired
at the end of 2000.

Fire Chief Robert Farstad said negotiations began in fall 2000 and were
completed without the assistance of a mediator.

"I'll have plenty to say after the vote of the union and the vote of the
council is announced and I will discuss any public information of the
contract then, but I can't discuss the terms of the proposed contract,"
Farstad said. John "Jocko" DeBlasio, president of Firefighters Union Local
28, IAFF, AFL-CIO, said the membership voted on the contract last Tuesday,
but the ballots won't be counted until after the City Council meets Monday.

About 110 of the 119 union members voted.

"This was a fair deal for the city and a fair deal for the union, and it
had major positives on both sides," DeBlasio said.

Councilman Frank Maurizio, chairman of the Public Safety Committee, said
the contract was a good compromise.

"It's a contract that rewards the good work that our firefighters do but at
the same time it deals with the realities that we're faced with as we
manage the city," Maurizio said.