News (Media Awareness Project) - New Zealand: Unions Seek Injunction Against Airline Drug And |
| Title: | New Zealand: Unions Seek Injunction Against Airline Drug And |
| Published On: | 2003-07-16 |
| Source: | New Zealand Herald (New Zealand) |
| Fetched On: | 2008-01-20 01:25:35 |
UNIONS SEEK INJUNCTION AGAINST AIRLINE DRUG AND ALCOHOL TESTING
Six aviation-industry unions lodged papers with the Employment Court in
Auckland yesterday opposing a drug and alcohol-testing regime proposed by
Air New Zealand.
Although the airline says it will not test any of its 9000 or so employees
before putting them all through an education programme, the unions say it
has no lawful right to demand urine or breath samples from staff at any time.
Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union lawyer Anne-Marie Hendra,
whose organisation is heading an application for a permanent injunction,
said unionists were not arguing for any right of workers to take drugs or
drink alcohol on the job.
"The unions are very firm that there is no room in anybody's workplace for
impairment because of drugs or alcohol," she said.
But it was another thing for Air New Zealand to assume rights it did not
have by trying to take body samples from workers.
She confirmed that the unions were opposed to all forms of testing, and not
just random sampling, as suggested earlier by an airline spokeswoman.
Air New Zealand already tests potential new staff as a condition of
recruitment in safety-sensitive areas, but Ms Hendra said unions could do
nothing about that as they did not cover people until they were in
employment relationships.
She said the unions would oppose testing for existing staff transferring to
safety-sensitive areas as well as those for whom the airline might deem
there to be "reasonable cause" to suspect drug or alcohol consumption.
A statement of claim lodged yesterday follows a decision by the Employment
Relations Authority to refer the case straight to the court, which will
assemble a full bench of three judges to hear it on October 6.
Such is the potential importance of the case, which will involve
interpretations of the Privacy Act and Bill of Rights Act as well as newly
amended workplace safety legislation, that the court has alerted the
Council of Trade Unions and Business New Zealand to it so they can apply to
participate.
Six aviation-industry unions lodged papers with the Employment Court in
Auckland yesterday opposing a drug and alcohol-testing regime proposed by
Air New Zealand.
Although the airline says it will not test any of its 9000 or so employees
before putting them all through an education programme, the unions say it
has no lawful right to demand urine or breath samples from staff at any time.
Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union lawyer Anne-Marie Hendra,
whose organisation is heading an application for a permanent injunction,
said unionists were not arguing for any right of workers to take drugs or
drink alcohol on the job.
"The unions are very firm that there is no room in anybody's workplace for
impairment because of drugs or alcohol," she said.
But it was another thing for Air New Zealand to assume rights it did not
have by trying to take body samples from workers.
She confirmed that the unions were opposed to all forms of testing, and not
just random sampling, as suggested earlier by an airline spokeswoman.
Air New Zealand already tests potential new staff as a condition of
recruitment in safety-sensitive areas, but Ms Hendra said unions could do
nothing about that as they did not cover people until they were in
employment relationships.
She said the unions would oppose testing for existing staff transferring to
safety-sensitive areas as well as those for whom the airline might deem
there to be "reasonable cause" to suspect drug or alcohol consumption.
A statement of claim lodged yesterday follows a decision by the Employment
Relations Authority to refer the case straight to the court, which will
assemble a full bench of three judges to hear it on October 6.
Such is the potential importance of the case, which will involve
interpretations of the Privacy Act and Bill of Rights Act as well as newly
amended workplace safety legislation, that the court has alerted the
Council of Trade Unions and Business New Zealand to it so they can apply to
participate.
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