Suncor wins latest round in battle over random drug tests

Oilsands giant Suncor Energy has won the latest roundin its push to randomly test thousands of workers for drugs andalcohol in Alberta.

A Court of Queen's Bench judge has quashed a 2014 arbitrationpanel ruling that determined the proposed testing plan would violatethe privacy of union workers represented by Unifor.

Justice Blair Nixon said the panel should have consideredevidence about alcohol and drug incidents involving all workers atSuncor, including non-union contract employees.

"By focusing only on the bargaining unit, the majority (of thepanel) expressly excluded consideration of relevant evidence,"Nixon wrote."The majority ignored evidence pertaining to some two-thirds ofthe individuals working in the oilsands operation."

Nixon said a new arbitration panel should review the company'srandom testing plan, which Suncor first announced in 2012.

Suncor had presented evidence of 2,276 drug and alcohol"security incidents" recorded between 2004 and 2013.Unifor, which has been challenging the random drug testingproposal, took the position that only 12 of the incidents involvedunion members.

Suncor Energyspokeswoman Sneh Seetal said the companyis pleased with Nixon's ruling. She said random testing aims toprotect the safety of the public, workers and the environment.

"What is important for Suncor is really looking at the driverbehind our desire to include random testing in our alreadycomprehensive safety program," she said."We wouldn't be pursuing this if we didn't feel it wasabsolutely necessary."

Unifor spokesman Dave Moffat said the union will appeal thejudge's decision and maintains that random testing violates thebasic rights of union members.

"We are disappointed but we will proceed through the system andhope for a satisfactory result," he said."It is important to all Canadians that the randomness of thiskind of personal invasion is something that we have to make suregets vetted through our system and that everybody understands itsseriousness and its implications."

The union, which represents about 3,800 workers at Suncor, saidthe company already has a comprehensive drug and alcohol policy thatincludes post-incident and reasonable cause testing.

It said that policy is not affected by the ongoing litigationover the random testing plan.