20 inspectors suspended over GPS

The Massachusetts public safety commissioner yesterday suspended 20 state building and engineering inspectors for refusing to accept cellphones equipped with global positioning systems.

Only two inspectors accepted the phones; another two were out on vacation when Commissioner Thomas Gatzunis tried to distribute the phones, which supervisors want to use to keep track of the inspectors during the work day.

``The act of insubordination leaves me with no choice but to impose disciplinary measures, including the immediate suspension of those who refused the phone," Gatzunis said.

Kelly Nantel, spokeswoman for the Executive Office of Public Safety, said the cellphone policy ``is about accountability. ``If you're doing your job well, there shouldn't be any concern with it. This allows the Department of Public Safety to ensure that taxpayers' money is being spent in an appropriate way."

The inspectors are responsible for overseeing construction, as well as the maintenance of boilers, air tanks, and amusement rides. They were suspended without pay for two days and were warned that if they do not take the phones when they return to work tomorrow, they will face further disciplinary action.

In the meantime, ``the available workforce is dramatically reduced" among inspectors, Nantel said. ``The commissioner is putting together contingency plans for the next several days. He's exploring what the options are, legal and otherwise."

Officials said the Massachusetts Organization of State Engineers and Scientists, the union that represents the inspectors, agreed to the GPS-equipped phones last year. Under the February 2005 agreement, the inspectors agreed to keep the phones on ``during all work hours," but not during lunch or breaks. The only people with access to the data generated by the phones will be the public safety commissioner and two managers, the settlement says.

But one inspector who refused the phone said his union is grieving the policy, which he called ``an invasion of privacy."

He said that the settlement with the union was never ratified by the union members and that the policy was never formalized in writing.

``This was supposed to be instituted 15 or 16 months ago with policies and procedures in place," said the inspector, who asked that his name not be used because he is barred from speaking publicly. ``The inspectors had a litany of questions that were never answered. This GPS says how fast you're going, how long you took to stop and eat your lunch. The GPS is an invasion of privacy."

Gatzunis called the inspectors to an office in Westborough to distribute the phones, but the effort was thwarted after one inspector called for a union representative.

Though the inspectors sat through a demonstration by a Nextel representative, they refused to yield and at the end of the day were suspended.

Said the building inspector who refused the phone: ``They've jeopardized the public safety. If you have a trench collapse, there's no inspector. If you have a building blow up, there's no inspector to respond. There are no inspections."

In the grievance filed yesterday, the inspectors say that state officials violated Massachusetts law and the terms of their collective bargaining agreement.

``The anticipated implementation of this program has caused a great deal of stress, anxiety, and apprehension among the inspectors and is having a devastating affect on their morale, health, and well-being, which is not conducive to a wholesome working environment," the state building inspectors wrote in the grievance.

More than 40 elevator inspectors, who also work for the Department of Public Safety but are in a different union, accepted the phones, Nantel said.

It is not the first time local public employees have resisted the GPS devices at work. Boston's school bus drivers adamantly opposed putting tracking devices on the buses. Snowplow contractors for the state and city also fought the policy. But such devices are currently on school buses and snowplows, according to John Tobin of the Boston City Council.

``You hear it's Big Brother; they're monitoring your every move," Tobin said.

``But for me and a lot of people, it's about public safety and accountability. They thought we were trying to monitor their every move. I have bigger fish to fry."