Unison’s Jane Doolan: ‘They don’t own workers’

UNION leaders have called on the Town Hall to halt random drug testing of its staff amid concerns that some workers are being unfairly targeted.

Jane Doolan, branch secretary of Islington Unison, said road sweepers, alongside other workers employed by Islington Council, had been randomly tested for drug and alcohol where only those working in “safety-critical” roles should be targeted.

“It’s absolutely disgraceful. The council don’t pay the workers enough, they don’t own them,” she said.

Concerns over drug testing of staff come in the same week as Michael Gove, a leading candidate to be next Tory leader and Prime Minister, admitted taking cocaine on “several occasions” during “social events” more than 20 years ago when working as a journalist. His confessions sparked a national debate over how far recreational drug use should impede someone’s career.

Random drug testing was introduced by Islington for those in “safety- critical” roles – including driving vehicles or working heavy machinery – three years ago.

GMB’s Gary Harris: ‘Halt random testing’

Ms Doolan said: “Members kept on approaching me who shouldn’t have been tested.

“It was only anecdotal until someone showed me a slip they were given after a testing – they do not work in a ‘safety-critical’ role.”

She added: “Are the council abiding by just testing ‘safety-critical’ roles or are they rolling it out to more people? That’s the worry.”

She said it was unclear what might cause a failed drug test.

“What happens if you have a spliff on the weekend and then are randomly tested on Monday? There’s a zero tolerance. If someone has alcohol in their system from days before, does that mean they lose their job?” she asked.

She added that there was a “worry” that the council was planning to roll out drug testing to more roles which aren’t “safety-critical”.

“What we want to know is how they choose people for drug testing and whether the council are following EU guidelines over drug testing results,” she said.

“We even had one person who was dismissed by the council after he didn’t go for his drug test. English is his second language and he didn’t realise he had to go for the test.”

Michael Gove, admitted taking cocaine

Some of her union stewards had told her that there were reports that drug testing was being undertaken in staff toilets.

Gary Harris, branch president of GMB Islington, called for random testing to be halted because “the random part hasn’t been worked out properly”.

He said: “I get the point: you can’t have people driving school buses and 21-tonne vehicles with something in their system.”

But he called for “all members of Islington Council to be part of the testing”, from the chief executive who earns £160,000 a year to councillors and caretakers.

He stressed that his union had seen “good results” from the threat of drug testing, where members had come forward to ask for help and had undertaken programmes to get clean.

Labour councillor Andy Hull, who is community safety chief, said drug testing was in place to ensure “safety”, adding: “Islington Council has for a number of years had a policy of random drug and alcohol testing for staff playing safety-critical roles.

“The policy, agreed with trade unions and subject to periodic re­view, exists solely to help ensure the safety of staff, residents and visitors to the borough.

He added: “It therefore states that only staff playing one of a list of safety- critical roles, again agreed with the trade unions, will be subject to this random testing.

“For the sake of everyone’s health and safety, it’s important that this random testing continues to take place. But if any colleagues think some staff who are not playing safety-critical roles are being randomly tested, I will make sure any examples they share with me are properly looked into.”