FIREFIGHTERS TURN DOWN CONTRACT

Echoing their police counterparts, Yakima firefighters Thursday
strongly rejected a city contract proposal that would have required
random drug testing.

Fire union president Ron Johnson did not release vote totals, but he
said the city's contract offer was turned down by a 3-1 margin. All
but one or two of the 80 represented firefighters cast ballots.

Johnson said he wants to meet with firefighter members to gauge their
reasons for turning down the package, which would have covered 2007
through 2009. Firefighters will continue to work under the existing
contract for the time being.

The city has proposed increasing the base pay for firefighters by an
average of about 12 percent over the life of the contract, but
firefighters would receive no pay raise in 2007. Citing financial
constraints, the city has declared that it will seek to freeze all
union wage increases for this year.

The actual dollar cost for the fire contract was not immediately
available.

Neither Johnson nor Fire Chief Dennis Mayo directly attributed the
firefighters' rejection to the request for random testing.

"There were no great rumblings that drug testing was the reason or
that it was wages. I think it might be a combination that we have to
work out and get settled up with the city," Johnson said.

Likewise, the police union listed wages and drug testing among 17
reasons that they declared a bargaining impasse in August.

If the random tests are approved, Yakima would become the first of
the state's largest cities to impose that standard on its police or
firefighters, officials say.

Police Chief Sam Granato, backed by the city manager and council
members, began pushing for random drug testing of police officers two
years ago, saying it was necessary to protect the public. Mayo
quickly agreed.

The fire chief said Thursday that he doesn't believe the city will
back away from the proposal in order to pass the contracts with
emergency service employees.

So far, the three-year contract has been approved by two bargaining
units represented by the International Association of Firefighters.
Those units, totalling about 20 employees, include emergency
dispatchers, 9-1-1 calltakers and the fire department's mechanics
and electronics staff.

Ballots were not back yet from the fourth IAFF unit, which is made up
of two battalion chiefs.

Johnson said he expected to return to the negotiating table at least
one more time. If necessary, mediation and then arbitration would
follow in order to secure an agreement.

Mayo said he will try to educate the firefighters as completely as
possible about both the drug testing and proposed changes in
discipline procedures, which would incorporate management of
personnel cases into the contract instead of bringing most of those
matters before the city's civil service commission.

"Much to the credit of the firefighters, they are looking at it in a
professional manner," Mayo said. "It's complex and it's breaking new
ground, and I think they are just being cautious. E Those are the
obstacles we have to climb up against."

The police union has most vocally contested Granato's campaign on
several grounds. Although their attorney questions the overall
legality of random testing under the state constitution, union
officials say they aren't convinced the city's testing plan would
offer enough safeguards against unfair testing or false results.

Granato said he's willing to address those concerns.

However, police union president Bob Hester said his review of the
contract language for firefighters showed it was more lenient than
that offered to his members.

Granato said he hadn't seen the firefighter rules.

"The difference is that they aren't charged with enforcing the law,
and we are. I think we have to have higher expectations," Granato
said.

Detailed drug-testing language for either contract has not been made
public.

Existing contracts allow city officials to test for drug use only
when they have reasonable suspicion, such as slurred speech.

The police union offered a reasonable-suspicion policy that Hester
said would have strengthened protections for both officers and the
city, but Granato said it didn't do enough.

Saying they know that safety is paramount, union officials argue that
the current system has dealt with the handful of drug cases that have
arisen in the past few years. Granato agrees the problem isn't
widespread, but he wants a way to catch violators before they create
liability concerns for the city.

Contract talks for police aren't expected to resume until June,
nearly two years after negotiations began.