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Newsbrief:
Hawaii
Unions
and
Hotels
See
Drug
Testing
Fight
Ahead
1/7/05
With labor contracts at many major Hawaii resorts and hotels set to expire next year, unions and employers alike are gearing up for a major battle over drug testing, Pacific Business News reported late last month. Some hotels have already negotiated drug-testing language into their contracts, as well as provisions for handling workers who test positive for illicit substances. The issue is largely driven by methamphetamine use, which is especially popular in the Aloha State. Hotel and resort employers told the industry journal that while they are unsure of the extent of meth use among employees, they are seeing increased tardiness, shoddy work, and a decreasing number of potential employees who can pass pre-employment drug tests.
Union leaders expressed a willingness to negotiate drug testing, but only if it is designed to help workers. "We are willing to negotiate drug testing as a preventive measure, not using it as a punishment," said Richard Baker, director of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, Local 142's Hawaii division. "We want drug policies to help workers, so we insist on working on a program that includes rehabilitation," he told Pacific Business News. Baker and his business agents have already negotiated contracts that included drug testing with provisions for rehabilitation at a handful of upscale resorts on the Big Island, he said. "We had to make sure our member is treated for illness and not thrown out," he said. But under the contracts negotiated so far, employees get only one shot at rehabilitation; if they test positive a second time, they are fired. "If you're found to test positive again, there's no hope for you," said Hanalei Peters, the union chairman at one of the Big Island hotels. It's a really harsh program. Look for the drug testing issue to heat up as negotiations commence on the contracts that expire next year.
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