MENINO, FIREFIGHTERS DUEL OVER DRUG TESTING
Moments after Boston Mayor Thomas Menino testified in favor of a bill to require random drug testing of public safety officials across Massachusetts, the head of the state’s largest firefighter union blasted the measure as “unconstitutional” and “a fraud” aimed at circumventing collective bargaining. Saying his union supports drug testing, Professional Fire Fighters of Massachusetts President Robert McCarthy took aim at the media, telling the Committee on Public Safety at a State House hearing that press reports made it seem like “we are all on drugs and alcohol.” “This is about political spin. This is about hurting my firefighters,” McCarthy said. Menino compared random drug testing to an effort by the Senate to ban texting while driving, calling the latter a “common sense measure” that could be implemented outside of collective bargaining. Menino noted that bus drivers and garbage truck drivers get drug tested every year. “Why not a public safety official?” he said. McCarthy, who testified alongside Boston firefighter union chief Ed Kelly, said drug testing should be collectively bargained into the contracts of firefighters, not imposed by the state. McCarthy’s union represents 12,000 firefighters in 200 cities and towns. The 68-word bill would require “all public safety employees of the commonwealth or any municipality, and any emergency medical technicians, including those employed by a private organization or unit” to “submit to a random drug and alcohol testing program.” The Executive Office of Public Safety would devise regulations to govern the testing.