Football Cardinals Fined for Refusing to Take Drug Tests

Most members of the St. Louis Cardinals have been fined $1,000 each for refusing to take drug tests as part of their end-of-season physicals, the National Football League team’s player representative said Thursday.

A union official in Washington suggested that such testing was prohibited by the Collective Bargaining Agreement. But in New York, a spokesman for the NFL Management Council, the owners’ bargaining unit, said that under its interpretation of a section of the agreement, the club was within its rights.

The management spokesman also said the owners had sent a letter to the union, protesting what it said was the player representatives’ advising players not to take complete postseason physicals.

Cardinal guard Joe Bostic said he and his teammates were notified of the fines Thursday when they showed up for practice. Bostic provided the information during an interview with KMOX radio.

The team, through public relations director Michael Menchel, declined to comment on the fines, saying only: “A portion of the end-of-season physicals were given yesterday, and we have no comment beyond that.” The Cardinals, since they will not be in the playoffs, conclude their season Saturday against the Washington Redskins.

Bostic told KMOX that the players, through the union representing them, would most likely seek legal recourse against the action.

“I don’t want to cause a problem, but we have to make a stand on what we think is right,” Bostic said. “We think the court ought to decide it. We’ll abide by whatever the court says.”

Dick Berthelsen, general counsel for the NFL Players Assn., would not return phone calls, and others at the union said only Berthelsen could discuss the issue.

Roy Jefferson, a former NFL wide receiver and now a union staff representative for the Cardinals and nine other teams, declined to make a statement, but he did read a portion of the agreement signed in 1982 after the 57-day midseason strike.

Under Article 31 of the players’ rights to medical care and treatment, Section 7, regarding testing, says: “The club physician may, upon reasonable cause, direct a player to Hazelden (a substance abuse treatment center in Minnesota) for testing for chemical abuse or dependency problems. There will not be any spot checking for chemical abuse or dependency by the club or club physician.”

Jim Miller, director of administration for the management council, said NFL clubs “are not prohibited by the CBA from conducting urinalysis for drugs in the postseason physical. The agreement has a provision that outlines what is allowable in the standard physical.”

In Appendix D, entitled “Standard Minimum Preseason Physical Examination,” it says, “Urinalysis for (including but not limited to): Protein, glucose, TH factor, diabetes, renal failure and gout.”

Said Miller: “By that provision, we can check for all those things but we’re not limited to checking for all those things. Most clubs conduct postseason physicals for injury protection. Because most clubs conduct a postseason physical, we interpret that (appendix) to mean the same standards apply. We feel we’re not limited to testing for those five or six things, that we can expand it to whatever we want.”

“In a lot of portions of the agreement, language was not cleaned up when it was signed,” Miller added. “This was one of them.”

Miller said that Jack Donlan, the executive director of the management council, sent a letter dated Dec. 17 to Gene Upshaw, executive director of the union.

“We have been advised by clubs that you and other NFLPA representatives are advising player representatives to tell players they should refuse to take complete postseason physical examinations,” the letter reads. “By doing so, the NFLPA is violating Article 1, Section 3 of the CBA which states that ‘The NFLPA and Management Council will use their best efforts to faithfully carry out the terms and conditions of this agreement and to see that the terms and conditions of this agreement are carried out in full by players and clubs.’

“Article 31, Section 5 of the CBA provides that ‘If the club requests a postseason physical examination, the player will cooperate in such examination.’ There is nothing in the CBA limiting a postseason physical to an orthopedic examination. Blood tests and urinalysis as part of a complete postseason physical examination given to all players is not spot checking, prohibited by Article 3, Section 7 of the CBA.

“By advising players not to cooperate in such examinations, the NFLPA is not using ‘its best efforts to see to it that the terms and conditions of the CBA are carried out in full by the players.’ We request that the NFLPA cease and desist from such activities,” the letter concludes.