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By Steve Schwartz
In his first meeting with our local
tradeshow union leadership, Tom Mobley was presented with labor’s strong
willingness to confront substance abuse on the show floor. The
collective bargaining agreements in place at that time allowed for
substance testing for pre-employment, post-accident, and for cause; it
did not allow for random show floor testing.
The local leadership of the Carpenters, Teamsters and Stagehands and the
national tradeshow representative of the Carpenters put on the table
that they were willing to accept some form of random show floor testing
as a pilot program for the national tradeshow industry. But labor was
not in the position to make the first overture to tradeshow contractor
management. We agreed to feel out the tradeshow contractors in our
meeting with them later that week.
In that meeting, we learned that tradeshow contractor management was
equally willing to push for random show floor substance testing. But
they felt that labor was not in a position to reopen the contract, as
the collective bargaining agreement was still in its first year. We
suggested that common ground was a lot closer than anyone suspected.
Within the month, we invited labor and management to the first of a
series of meetings to map out and claim the common ground. Obligatory
pokes were thrown and endured by all parties, and in the process some
myths were debunked, some truths shared:
Myth: Workplace testing isn’t that
common.
Workplace testing is prevalent in so many industries that outside of the
tradeshow industry it is assumed to be the norm. Many large
corporations, and the Federal government, have a requirement that
contractors must demonstrate effective workplace substance testing
programs as a condition for contract award.
Myth: The general contractor hires all
of the labor.
The official service contractor is not the only employer on the exhibit
floor. For traveling tradeshows of a certain size, the majority of
exhibitors frequently appoint preferred contractors to assemble their
exhibits. The exhibitor appointed contractors may employ more than half
of all show floor labor for a given event. The exhibitor appointed
contractors may be signatories to the master collective bargaining
agreements for the jurisdiction, but are generally not members of the
management committee negotiating these agreements.
Myth: The general contractor controls
all of the labor.
It is the duty of show management to establish and enforce the rules for
each event. This is often tacitly delegated to the official general
service contractor. But it is not a responsibility that the general
service contractor willingly accepts. Floor management does not
contribute to the contractor’s bottom line, and is no longer provided as
a value-added service.
Myth: Labor needs to clean its own house
up.
Labor leadership can support the disciplinary process; but because they
collectively represent workers, labor leadership can rarely initiate
discipline, even for apparent cause. Labor can effectively offer workers
workplace assistance, but the workers must take the first step to
request it.
Myth: Convention center management can
just make a rule.
Convention center management can establish rules and procedures
for the use of the facility. Customers knowing the value of their
business can and do negotiate variances to the rules. But customers are
less likely to negotiate a variance if the rule has no direct financial
impact on the customer; and are much less likely to negotiate a variance
if the rule has been endorsed by the organizations representing the best
professional practices of the industry.
Sometimes it’s necessary to state the obvious. That’s what we as
convention center management did during the discussions, reminding
everybody that all parties had already agreed that we agreed; and that
what we were really doing was finding a common-sense mechanism that
would put our agreement into practice.
We hosted follow-up meetings in our executive offices, demonstrating our
senior management’s commitment to this process. During one working
session, a senior human resources executive from a major contractor’s
corporate parent walked the group through the federal Department of
Transportation (DOT) and Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS)
requirements, which are accepted as the national standards. The Teamster
representative pointed out that the Teamsters had already accepted the
DOT requirements in their national master contract, which was
incorporated by reference into all local contracts. Once this hurdle was
leapt, the parties worked out acceptable language in two marathon work
sessions.
Our drug-free workplace process is as follows:
• Labor and management agreed to identically- worded contract memoranda
of agreement that were attached to all collective bargaining agreements
currently in place.
• Convention center management modified our contractor rules to require
all contractors to register annually with management for a Right of
Entry permit to conduct business on our property. The base terms of the
memorandum of agreement were adopted into the contractor rules.
• A third-party administrator selects the events for testing, and
notifies the contractor and the facility 48 hours prior to the testing
date.
• Employers fax the names of their workers to the third-party
administrator on the day of the test. The administrator randomly selects
up to 15 percent of the workforce for testing by a DHHScertified
independent testing contractor. The tests are administered on the
jobsite (we close an isolated set of restrooms to serve as the
collection facility and to insure privacy). Selected workers are
individually notified and escorted by the steward to the testing
facility. A worker who refuses to test is immediately dismissed from
work and escorted from the jobsite. Workers are tested with both
urinalysis and breathalyzer procedures.
Samples are transported under chain of custody procedures to a DHHS-certified
laboratory for testing. There are follow-up tests to eliminate false
positive results. The final report is provided to the employer and the
unions 48 hours after sampling. If an employee tests positive without a
valid medical reason, the employee is immediately suspended from the
work rolls, and must successfully complete an approved rehabilitation to
reenter the work rolls. An employee with a second confirmed positive
test is dropped from the work rolls, barred from future employment with
signatory employers, and is served with a barring notice prohibiting
entrance to convention center property.
The program has been endorsed by the Exhibitor Appointed Contractor
Association, the Trade Show Exhibitors Association, the Society of
Independent Show Organizers, the Exhibition Services and Contractors
Asso-ciation, and the International Association for Exhibition
Management.
Is it working? Sadly, a few workers chose to take themselves off the
work rolls rather than comply with the program. Happily, a few workers
successfully completed rehab, returned to work, and thanked their union
and employers for the intervention. All parties remain fully committed
to this program’s success a year after implementation. We experienced
some start-up hiccups, fixed them, and are confidently moving on to
widening the program’s scope.
Steve Schwartz is
director of operations for the Washington (D.C.) Convention Center. |
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