Arbitrator strikes down TTC’s ‘unreasonable’ random drug-testing policy

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Source OTTAWA — The Toronto Transit Commission’s random drug-testing policy is on the wrong track. That was the conclusion of a labour arbitrator on Monday, who ruled the TTC’s random drug-testing policies were both unreasonable and contrary to Section 8 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. In her 350-page ruling, arbitrator Laura Trachuk found no justification to impose random drug testing on TTC employees, saying no scientific evidence existed to support that such surprise tests improved safety. Trachuk also ruled that oral tests for THC, the principal psychoactive compound in cannabis, are “not fit for the purpose for which it is being used by the TTC.” Tests ‘inaccurate and unreliable:’ Union head The decision is being widely celebrated by Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) Local 113, which represents nearly 12,000 TTC employees in the city — with local president Marvin Alfred...