GOV'T ACCUSED OF HIDDEN AGENDA BEHIND DRUG STUDY

Labour group calls it a front for testing workers

CALGARY - 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?

"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 it's 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.