JOB IMPAIRMENT STUDY ATTACKED

Labour Groups Suspect Hidden Agenda

Alberta labour groups say a new provincial study on impairment at the
work site is merely a front for a plan to increase drug and alcohol
testing of employees.

The Alberta Federation of Labour says the Workplace Health and Safety
committee intends to give employers broad powers to test employees for
a host of reasons, including lateness and absenteeism, with the
ultimate goal of helping employers build dismissal cases against
employees they dislike.

"Drug and alcohol testing is a total attack on people's human rights
and rights under the Charter (of Rights and Freedoms)," said Don
MacNeil, western region vice-president of the Canadian Energy and
Paperworkers Union. "This government committee just wants to expand
the parameters of what is acceptable . . . and remove any obligation
of accommodation of people with addictions to alcohol and drugs.

"We feel, quite frankly, that this is an issue that is best tackled on
the shop floor."

A spokesman for Alberta Human Resources and Employment, however, said
the committee's only goal is to increase safety on the worksite. "The
issue is safety," Chris Chodan said. "If people are operating heavy
machinery, do you want them to be high while they're doing it? The
answer is no.

"This committee is trying to find out what's acceptable (in terms of
controlling impairment on the job). Testing wouldn't be the only answer."

The Impairment in the Work Place working group is a multi-stakeholder
committee studying options for dealing with drug and alcohol problems
on the job site. It has members from industry, business, government
and labour groups and is part of an overall attempt by the province to
reduce accidents on the job by 40 per cent by 2005.

The committee will release its recommendations later this spring.

The Alberta Federation of Labour raised concerns over drug and alcohol
testing at its biennial meeting in Calgary this weekend.

Currently, employers are limited in their ability to test employees
for alcohol and drugs. Employers can give urine tests to workers who
seem drunk and can also test people in "safety sensitive" positions or
after accidents on the worksite.

However, drug testing is more problematic, because finding traces of
drugs in a worker's system is not necessarily proof the employee is
impaired.

"If you fail a test for residual marijuana, it could be second-hand
exposure, or it could have been weeks earlier, and has absolutely
nothing to do with your competence," MacNeil said, adding his union
doesn't condone drug use at home or work.

That said, MacNeil said employers should have to work with employees
to help them overcome their addictions, and not just use drug testing
as a way to fire workers who are not performing up to
expectations.

Some labour leaders said they find it ironic that the government and
employers are focusing on drugs and alcohol when there are other more
serious issues contributing to accidents on the job, including fatigue
and stress, that should be examined.

"When it comes to safety, drugs and alcohol are the lowest on the
totem pole, but it's the one the government is jumping on," said
Gordon Christie, spokesman for the Calgary and District Labour Council.

Les Steel, president of the Alberta Federation of Labour, said he's
worried the committee's recommendations will result in more workers
being "punished" for drug and alcohol infractions, rather than getting
the help they need.

"Our concern is if the worker has a substance abuse problem, we should
help them, not punish them," Steel said.

Chodan, the government spokesman, said the province is studying other
factors that lead to accidents, including fatigue, and also agrees
that punishment isn't necessarily the best answer to impairment on the
job.

However, he said most employers, workers, and the families of workers,
consider alcohol and drug use on the job a serious issue that should
be investigated.