State officials blasted the public school teachers union yesterday for attempting to renege on its agreement to accept random drug testing.

The Hawaii State Teachers Association agreed to a new contract in June 2007 that included pay increases and random drug testing. After getting most of the pay increases, the union has fought attempts to implement the drug testing.

The union's latest suggestion is that only teachers who hold commercial driver's licenses are obligated to be randomly drug tested, State Deputy Attorney General Jim Halvorson said at a news conference yesterday.

The state has been randomly drug testing employees with commercial driver's licenses since 1995 in accordance with federal law, Halvorson said.

"I think that you can see that this brand new position by the HSTA ... does not pass the laugh test," Halvorson said. "Why would we have given significant pay raises to the teachers in order to obtain testing that we've been doing all along?"

HSTA President Roger Takabayashi did not return a phone call yesterday seeking a response. Union officials have said they learned — after signing the contract — that random drug testing violates state and federal constitutions.

"The teachers and public are being duped by the current union leadership," said Marie Laderta, director of the state Department of Human Resources Development. "They never intended to implement random drug testing. They never did."

Halvorson pointed to a July 25 petition filed by the HSTA to the Hawai'i Labor Relations Board in which the union's chief negotiator, Raymond Camacho, stated that the HSTA is not obligated to negotiate terms for random drug testing for all of its members, only a portion of them.

The petition went on to say that only teachers with commercial driver's licenses should be subject to random drug testing.

The HSTA earlier had attempted to limit random drug testing to a select group of teachers based on prior drunken-driving or drug convictions.

Gov. Linda Lingle's administration rejected that suggestion, saying it violates the new contract, which called for random drug testing of the state's 13,500 public school teachers.

RAISES AWARDED

The new contract included pay increases of up to 11 percent over 18 months, most of which already have taken effect.

The contract called for the Board of Education and the teachers union to "establish a reasonable suspicion and random drug and alcohol testing procedures applicable to all Bargaining Unit 5 (teachers) ... and implement such plan no later than June 30, 2008."

Also yesterday, Halvorson pointed to a July 29 newsletter from the HSTA to its membership in which the union made several arguments against random drug testing.

"One of the disturbing things in this newsletter, though, is HSTA likens drug testing of HSTA members to the Japanese internment in World War II," Halvorson said.

"I don't know how ... that could possibly compare to getting a pay raise — a significant one — in return for drug testing."

The HSTA's recent newsletter "Teacher Advocate" included a question-and-answer portion on the issue of random drug testing. Question No. 7 asked: "Why can't we just agree to random drug testing of all teachers?"

The response reiterated the union's position that it is prepared to implement drug testing based on reasonable suspicion. However, the response raised questions about the constitutionality of the random drug testing program.

"Here are some historical examples of how constitutional rights have been at risk before: Japanese internment during WWII; 120,000 Japanese-Americans were forcefully detained in camps from 1942-45."

LABOR COMPLAINT

On July 18, the state filed a complaint with the Hawai'i Labor Relations Board against the union, alleging the union has failed to negotiate the terms of the testing program in good faith.

The complaint was filed in response to a July 17 letter in which the union said it has learned, since the contract was signed, that random testing is not consistent with state and federal constitutions.

The union has filed a petition asking the Hawai'i Labor Relations Board to make a declaratory ruling on the legality of a random drug testing program for teachers.

"Today, both parties know much more about the legal issues surrounding drug testing that were not known at the time of the initial agreement," HSTA Executive Director Mike McCartney wrote in a letter to DOE Superintendent Pat Hamamoto.

"We cannot knowingly agree to procedures that violate the state and federal constitutions. Any agreement of this type would subject the state and all of us to unnecessary litigation," McCartney wrote.