Utility Workers of America, Local No. 246, Afl-Cio Jeanette Cintron Alan Rook, Cross-Appellees v. Southern California Edison Company, Cross

This case requires us to decide whether section 301 of the Labor Management Relations Act, 29 U.S.C. § 185 (1982), preempts a union’s claim that an employer’s unilaterally implemented drug-testing program violates rights guaranteed by the California Constitution.

Utility Workers of America, Local 246, appeals the order dismissing its state constitutional law claims arising out of the implementation of random drug testing of employees by Southern California Edison (SCE) at its San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station. SCE cross-appeals from the district court’s refusal to dismiss Local 246’s breach of the collective bargaining agreement claim and from its decision to enter a preliminary injunction against random drug testing.

In September 1984, SCE began annual drug-screen urinalysis for all employees seeking “unescorted access” into the security area encompassing the San Onofre plant’s nuclear reactors. SCE instituted the drug-testing requirement without prior negotiations with Local 246, the collective bargaining agent for employees at the San Onofre facility. Local 246 filed a grievance asserting that institution of the program violated the collective bargaining agreement.

Local…