Pubdate: Thu, 16 Jul 1998
Source: Toronto Star (Canada)
Page: C5
Contact:  http://www.thestar.com/
Author:  Paul Moloney, Toronto Star City Hall Bureau
Note:  The TTC is the Toronto Transit Commission, Toronto's public
transportation organization.

TTC REJECTS DRUG TESTING ITS DRIVERS

TTC commissioners have said no to mandatory drug testing of applicants for
bus driver and other safety sensitive jobs.

``I don't know what they were smoking when they made that decision,'' said
Councillor Rob Davis, a commissioner who had argued that public safety
demanded testing.

``What percentage of the population wouldn't want the person driving their
subway or streetcar to have been tested for drugs prior to getting the
job?'' he told reporters after the 4-2 vote yesterday.

``There's going to be a percentage of our applicants who are going to be
drug users and they will not be subject to any drug screening,'' said Davis
(York-Eglinton).

BIGGER ISSUE

TTC management, which fills about 600 jobs a year, 70 per cent of them
safety sensitive, had proposed sending urine samples to an outside
laboratory for $75 tests for marijuana, cocaine, opiates and amphetamines.
The program wouldn't include alcohol testing, but staff told commissioners
it's easier to detect drinking on the job than drug use.

``What's prompted it is that it's become a bigger issue in society in
general,'' said TTC human resources manager Lori Findleton. ``We feel we
have a requirement to provide a safe environment.''

Drug testing is carried out at major U.S. transit systems, but in Canada
the TTC is aware of just one program, at Windsor Transit.

The need for a program was questioned by Councillor David Miller (High
Park), who noted there have been only 19 instances of on-the-job impairment
in the past two years, out of nearly 10,000 employees.

LEGAL MINEFIELD

Management wasn't proposing to test current employees - arguing that
internal controls are working and that younger job applicants are more
likely to be drug users.

But Miller said a program, even one restricted to job applicants, is a
legal minefield.

``If you don't have reasonable grounds, you don't have the right to
interfere in people's private lives. I think that's an important principle
the TTC has to uphold.''

Councillor Chris Korwin-Kuczynski (High Park) had a different approach: ``I
don't believe in all this concern about democratic rights and everything
else.''

But Councillors Howard Moscoe, the TTC chair, and Blake Kinahan
(Lakeshore-Queensway) said the staff had failed to make a good case that
drug testing is needed.

``For God's sake, let's drop the whole thing and let's get on with the
business of running a transit system,'' said Moscoe (North York Spadina).

TTC chief general manager David Gunn, who was subject to drug testing when
he ran New York's transit system, said he doesn't find it overly intrusive.

``It just seems to me it's prudent to do, because it's very difficult to
pick up drug abuse unless something happens. The way you tend to detect
that is you have an accident.''

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