TTC GIVES GREEN LIGHT TO DRUG TESTS FOR KEY STAFF

Only 'at-risk' employees in safety-sensitive jobs are targeted -
random tests not on the table

The TTC has approved a limited drug-testing policy that will subject
job applicants and workers most at risk of being impaired at work to
saliva tests - if they're in roles where safety is crucial.

The move by commissioners yesterday somewhat defused opposition from
human rights advocates and union leader Bob Kinnear, who had refused
to rule out a strike or legal action if workers were forced to submit
to the most controversial part of the proposed policy: random testing.

Under a fitness-for-duty policy to be implemented within a year, TTC
workers in safety-sensitive jobs will be tested if there is reasonable
suspicion they have been using banned substances on the job, or
following an incident in which drug or alcohol use is suspected as a
factor.

Those caught using drugs and alcohol at work, or who are returning to
work after attending a substance-treatment program, will also be
monitored through testing, though it's not clear what form that
testing will take.

TTC chief general manager Gary Webster had argued for random testing
of all employees as a deterrent. He suggested it was necessary to
decrease the chances of a catastrophe, though proven cases of
impairment have been relatively rare.

Random testing would have made the TTC's policy among the most radical
in Canada - where, unlike in the United States, courts and human
rights commissions have generally deemed random tests an invasion of
personal privacy.

Civil liberties experts and union officials argued yesterday that
random tests would indeed violate workers' dignity and privacy rights.

"As a union we are opposed to anyone being impaired on the job," said
Kinnear, who heads the Amalgamated Transit Union local. But "it is
degrading to workers to have to pee into a cup, probably while someone
watches to make sure it's your urine."

The issue emerged from the April 2007 death of maintenance worker Tony
Almeida, who was killed in an accident involving a subway work car
that also injured two others. Although Almeida wasn't blamed for the
accident, the coroner found he had been using drugs during his shift.
He was caught using drugs months earlier, but wasn't monitored after
he returned to work.

A TTC report released last week showed there were 39 incidents of drug
and alcohol impairment recorded among employees over the past three
years or so, although not all were drivers, managers or in other
safety-sensitive jobs.

Only one of nine commissioners rejected all forms of substance
testing.

"I would hope sober second thought would prevail," Councillor Anthony
Peruzza told his fellow commissioners. "We need to implement some
measures but we have an obligation to our employees to guard their
rights."

Kinnear didn't say what the union's next step will be. But he said
workers would meet management to talk about the policy.

"We will not enter into anything that is arbitrarily rammed down our
throats," Kinnear said, adding that it is "perplexing" for the TTC to
suggest it could do a better job of assessing an employee's impairment
level following an incident than the Toronto police.

Still, he conceded, "It's somewhat encouraging that some on the
commission recognized how invasive random testing would be."

Details of how the tests will be administered, which jobs would be
covered and which third party would provide the service haven't been
worked out. The initial report suggested applicant testing could begin
almost immediately, but that also needs to be worked out with the
company that currently administers other tests to applicants, said TTC
spokesperson Brad Ross.

Downplaying suggestions testing could taint an applicant's or
employee's work record, TTC chairperson Adam Giambrone said, "We're
not governing what people do on their private time. All we care about
is what happens when they report for duty.

"Our job is to try and find a policy that is fair, that offers dignity
and respect to our employees but also the passenger security and
safety. We've been able to establish that policy. We'll continue to
monitor it. We have a problem, we don't have a crisis," he said.

The testing is expected to cost hundreds of thousands of dollars,
Giambrone said. The TTC also approved an operating budget with an $87
million shortfall.