And Transport Official Wants Local Authorities To Help
Union leaders and civil libertarians are in an uproar down
under, as the federal government in Australia wants to enlist local
police to help enforce mandatory drug tests now proposed for the
entire aviation industry.
In spite of the criticism, Transport Minister Warren Truss wants
to start testing what he calls "safety sensitive" personnel by the
end of the year -- and he wants to use local police officers, under
the jurisdiction of the Civil Aviation Safety Authority, to help
conduct the tests.
"The Attorney-General will be talking to the state police forces
with the view to extending their powers so that they are able to
also undertake mandatory and random breath testing of people
associated with the aviation sector," Truss told Australia's
News.com.
Under the plan, five-percent of all pilots, cabin
crews, fuel handlers, baggage handlers, air traffic controllers,
security workers... just about anyone who has behind-the-scenes
access to an airport, would be tested each year.
Truss admits he has some privacy concerns... but is more worried
about recent surveys that show drugs and alcohol are no strangers
to aviation.
"We expect drivers to be free of alcohol and drugs when they are
on the road. Surely it's reasonable to expect something similar of
pilots," Truss said.
Such testing had been
proposed for years... but it was the crash of a charter aircraft in
Queensland four years ago, that killed six people, that led the
Australian Transport Safety Bureau to recommend drug testing.
Toxicology tests on the pilot of that plane indicated he'd used
both drugs and alcohol shortly before the flight.
One opponents group said they don't have a problem with drug and
alcohol testing, per se... but rather the problem is having the
police conduct the tests.
"It would be entirely improper and will provide justified
industrial action if people in the airline industry are treated as
criminals," said Terry O'Gorman with the Australian Council for
Civil Liberties. "Testing should be done by medical authorities
because it involves an invasion of people's privacy, and medical
authorities are at least more likely to approach the task in a
balanced way."
O'Gorman also questioned the need for some workers to be tested.
"It's hard to see how baggage handlers could be regarded as safety
sensitive employees when all they are doing is lifting baggage off
a conveyor belt," he said.
Unions agree with that position, saying police would be better
use in preventing terrorism at airports throughout Australia.
"It's got some advantages but it equally has some
disadvantages... we want to know what the parameters are and how
the process will be introduced," said Laurie Cox, spokesperson for
The Australian Federation for Air Pilots (AFAP), which represents
about 2,500 pilots throughout the nation. "None of this has been
talked about. It has just been legislation by press release."
The Transport Workers Union added to the furor, saying the
testing was a "smokescreen" for government inaction on airport
security.
But at least one airline approves of the proposal. A spokesman
for Qantas says the government program would fit nicely with its
existing drug and alcohol screening and education efforts.