Mercer County union boss gets suspended from public employment
TRENTON » A Mercer County employee and local union boss has been suspended without pay from his public job.
Alan Longstreet, who serves as president of AFSCME Local 2287, is facing administrative discipline for undisclosed reasons.
Mercer County spokeswoman Julie Willmot would only confirm that Longstreet is suspended without pay from his heavy equipment operator job that pays $71,500 per year.
The Trentonian could not independently verify the reason for Longstreet’s leave of absence, but a number of rumors have surfaced concerning his employer-imposed suspension.
As a county employee, Longstreet worked as an asphalt heavy equipment operator of front-end loaders and road graders. He presumably had a commercial driver’s license to operate those vehicles that weigh more than 26,000 pounds.
Mercer County employees who possess a commercial driver’s license are subjected to mandatory random drug testing under Mercer County’s Drug and Alcohol Testing Program, according to the Mercer County employee handbook.
“The County of Mercer has instituted the Federally mandated Drug and Alcohol Testing Program effective January 1, 1995. This policy calls for training and mandatory random testing of employees who possess a commercial driver’s license,” according to a provision in the employee handbook. “Violation of this policy will result in immediate suspension or demotion to a nonsafety sensitive position.”
Longstreet played a big role in negotiating a four-year contract that bestowed retroactive salary increases for the blue collar and white collar employees he represented as president of AFSCME Local 2287. The contract, which expires Dec. 31, 2020, explicitly says Mercer County “shall have the right to discipline or discharge any employee” for just cause.
The county may suspend an employee for a number of reasons, including incapacity due to mental or physical disability; intoxication or suspicion of substance abuse while on duty; disorderly or immoral conduct; violence threatening the health or safety of other employees; or serious neglect of duty, according to Longstreet’s contract.
Longstreet’s public employment began in June 2002, when Mercer County hired him. He filed a worker’s compensation claim several years ago, claiming he had suffered a compensable work-related injury while plowing snow on Nursery Road in West Trenton on Jan. 27, 2015.
A trial court judge originally ruled in Longstreet’s favor, but the New Jersey Superior Court’s Appellate Division reversed the decision and remanded it for a new trial before a different judge, saying the original judge had abused her discretion by making a decision without evidential support, according to the Appellate Division’s decision dated June 20, 2017.
AFSCME Local 2287 represents blue collar workers ranging from electricians to maintenance workers and white collar workers ranging from administrative clerks to systems analysts. The local is affiliated with AFSCME New Jersey Council 63, which did not respond to The Trentonian’s inquiries Tuesday regarding Longstreet’s union boss status.
The Trentonian also could not reach Longstreet for comments Tuesday. The newspaper has contacted his cellphone, which went straight to voicemail. He did not respond to numerous voicemail messages seeking comments on this story.