Workers Appeal To Rank & File To Save Jobs

If state liquor control agents get laid off this month, it will be the fault of the union rank-and-file, argued Melanie Luke — and the state will have fewer people to confiscate bottles of uncontrolled substances like ​“Pump It Up wid Big Man” tonic wine.

Luke (at right in top photo), a supervising liquor agent with the state Department of Consumer Protection, made those remarks Monday afternoon at a union press event at the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station at 123 Huntington St.

The event took place as state workers prepare to take a second vote on a concessions package that would serve to avert thousands of layoffs. About 2,000 state workers, including two liquor control agents and eight employees of the Ag Station, got pink slips after the coalition of state workers failed to ratify a first contract in June; Gov. Malloy has said he plans to eliminate over 4,500 jobs if the contract isn’t approved.

After the union coalition changed its bylaws to lower the threshold for approval, workers are taking a second swing this week and next at approving the contract, which offers a four-year no layoff clause. The vote tally is due to be ready next Thursday, Aug. 18, said Matt O’Connor, spokesman for the State Employees Bargaining Agent Coalition.

Luke and Ag Station scientist Craig Musante (at left in photo above) gathered Monday to urge their fellow state workers to vote ​“yes” in order to save jobs and protect key services that keep the public safe.

To illustrate their point, they rolled out Exhibit A: Two bottles of so-called ​“tonic wine” that had been up for sale on shelves in the Hartford area. One label reads ​“Pump It Up wid Big Man roots tonic wine.” It’s advertised as a sexual ​“energy giver” produced in Jamaica, with ​“alcohol 5 % fermentation.” The label shows a racy picture of a Big Man with a female partner, ostensibly post-energy drink.

The label on the second bottle reads ​“Lion King Bone,” also a ​“tonic drink” from Jamaica. ​“A real man’s drink for maximum performance,” the ad boasts. The label says the beverage should not be consumed by pregnant women or minors, but it doesn’t specify the alcohol content.

Liquor control agents spotted these during an inspection and snatched them up off the shelf, Luke said. She said neither bottle had been approved by the federal government; that means the consumer can’t know for sure what’s inside.

The bottles were taken to the Ag Station’s analytical chemistry department, where scientists examine suspicious substances. Both bottles were found to contain alcohol, Luke said.

The lab also examines cases where bars are trying to rip off customers by passing off low-end liquor in high-end containers.

For example, a lot of bars pour Dubra or Popov into Gray Goose containers, according to Erik Gagne.

Gagne, who asked not to be photographed because he does undercover liquor busts, is one of two liquor control agents on the line to lose their jobs if state workers don’t approve the contract. Agents like Gagne slip into bars to observe who’s selling to minors; they track and they know how to sniff out cases where bartenders are watering down good vodka or selling a different product under that name. Gagne said he deals with 20 to 30 cases of liquor violations per month. Scientists at the Ag Station run tests on the samples he collects, examining them for ethanol and other flavor particles.

The state’s eight liquor control agents are already ​“spread thin” to address the 1,000-plus liquor complaints the department receives each year, Luke said. Already, it may take agents six months to visit a place where ​“we know there’s a problem.”

“If we lose two more” liquor agents Luke said, it’ll take even longer to address problem bars and unregulated tonic wines. It will be ​“extremely difficult” for the department to get its work done, she said.

“I’m urging today all state employs to please vote yes on the concessions,” Luke said.

Luke was asked whose fault it will be — the governor’s or the union rank-and-file — if the contract isn’t ratified and state workers lose their jobs.

“It’s going to be the rank-and-file,” Luke opined. ​“I clearly believe it is a deal that is fair.”

“The governor went above and beyond,” added Liquor Control Agent Gagne. ​“He gave us a second chance. I hope those who voted no look at that and take that second chance.”

Musante, an assistant scientist in the Ag Station’s department of analytical chemistry, called the contract ​“a reasonable and fair deal” and urged state workers to support it. He’s a union steward in P4, which is part of CSEA/SEIU Local 2001. Ag Station scientists in P4 overwhelmingly approved the contract last time—then got pink slips when other state unions sank the deal.

Gagne, who’s been with the state for four years, stands to lose his job on Aug. 25 if the agreement doesn’t pass.

He said if he loses his job, there will be fewer inspections, less undercover work and more fruit flies undiscovered in liquor bottles. His union, the Police and Fire Union, voted in high numbers to approve the contract last time. They’re taking another vote on Wednesday, he said.

Gagne said his message to fellow state workers who haven’t yet gotten pink slips is this: ​“Vote yes, because it could happen to you. You’re not safe.”