Unions challenge DOT’s “strip search” regulation

[Zeb]

CLEVELAND, August 15 — The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, along with seven other rail unions and the BNSF Railway, has filed a lawsuit challenging a new Department of Transportation (DOT) regulation that would subject employees to a “strip search” during mandatory drug tests.

The DOT regulation, which would become effective August 25, requires railroads to directly observe urine collection in all federally-mandated drug tests involving either a return-to-duty after a positive or invalid test, or a follow-up test conducted after a positive or invalid test. Prior to directly observing the specimen donation, the collector also would be required to subject the worker to a “strip search,” because the new regulation states as follows:

“As the observer, you must request the employee to raise his or her shirt, blouse, or dress/skirt, as appropriate, above the waist; and lower clothing and underpants to show you, by turning around, that they do not have a prosthetic device. After you have determined that the employee does not have such a device, you may permit the employee to return clothing to its proper position for observed urination.”

The DOT’s “strip search” regulation is being challenged, in part, on the basis that the mandatory strip searches and observations violate the prohibition against unreasonable searches contained in the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution. In addition, review is being sought to determine whether DOT complied with the rule making process of the Administrative Procedures Act.

BLET National President Ed Rodzwicz blasted the new regulation.

“Forcing a railroad worker to submit to an embarrassing and humiliating strip search and observed collection without reasonable suspicion is an outrage,” he said.

Other unions participating in the lawsuit include: the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes Division; American Train Dispatchers Association; Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen; Transportation Communications International Union; International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers; National Conference of Firemen and Oilers; and United Transportation Union.

In a statement, the BNSF Railway Executive Vice President Carl Ice said: “There is absolutely no tolerance for alcohol or drug use in our workplace. But we also believe that our employees are entitled to be treated with dignity and respect at the workplace, and this new regulation is an intrusion on employees.”

President Rodzwicz said that if this regulation had been in effect since FRA began keeping these statistics, almost 21,000 unnecessary strip searches and direct observations would have been required, “needlessly humiliating over 99.97 percent of all those required to submit to return-to-duty or follow-up testing.”

President Rodzwicz also said there is no reason to justify the DOT’s overly harsh and humiliating regulation.

“There is no documentation whatsoever of adulteration or substitution of a return-to-duty test in the railroad industry, and not one of the nearly 11,000 return-to-duty and follow-up tests conducted in 2006 and 2007 were invalidated because of adulteration or substitution,” President Rodzwicz said.

The joint petition for review was filed in the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. The Court of Appeals is expected to issue a schedule for conducting its review shortly.

[blizzard07]

They threw the Constituitional rights of the the rail worker away decades ago, and the assaults just keep coming. So what is the bureaucratic reasoning on this one? It will create a bunch of new jobs for white collar types who enjoy inspecting genitalia? And why is it that these "little Mengeles" are so fixated on urine when blood tests would much more conclusively establish the presence or absence of intoxication? Maybe they just like pee.

[jp2153]

When I was in the Army, one of my duties was to perform a monthly 10% and once a quarter 100% urinalysis and breath test. I was an observer and also the Unit Drug and Alcohol Coordinator.

When the testing was done, it was the responsibility of the tester to ensure that the sample was not tampered with and met the proper volume and tempurature for a sample.

Yes, it was embarrassing to have to go through this and have to sit at a Court Martial when a freind or fellow leader tested positive for an illegal substance. I have been to 12 different UCMJ hearings out of my 23 years of service. Out of the 12, 4 were thrown out because the observer did not observe the individual peeing in the bottle.

3 of those cases were thrown out, and the 4th one involved the observer being charge for deriliction of duty and was reduced from the rank of SSG to SPC.

We work in an environment that has the potential to cause a disaster to innocent people. I do not agree with OPERATION RED BLOCK. I personally feel that if you want to partake in illegal substances you should be permanently fired from the rail road.

It is a bunch of bull to see an engineer and a conductor get fired for 7 days for testing positive for Cocain and Pot after running through a switch, but if a guy that does not test positive runs through a switch, the FRA wants a huge chunk of money and jail time.

Were is the justice in this?

[blizzard07]

Sarge;
We can barely keep the trains running and are having a hell of a time keeping new hires-even ex cons (Yes the rrs are resorting to hiring ex cons!). Now this? What is this thing to where they just have to have pee? I have heard that blood samples would work-the only hitch is that they could not detect off duty use beyond something like 48 hours. WHO CARES??!! Oh yeah, a bunch of bible thumping white trash in Washington with way too much ideology and way too little common sense... What is next with these people-rectal inspections to "detect contraband"? The RRs had better about double starting salaries if they want to keep operations going. The situation is sliding into "desperate" and will not get any better what with retirements and all (and "the spinal cord of the rr" going going). I am thinking that they will be forced to implement ENGR only on through freights and soon and possibly raise the retirement age, but maybe that was the plan all along.
Blizz
PS. What do you suppose would happen if a hostile power were to offer savagely persecuted US rail workers sums of money to quit? I think I know...

[jp2153]

I don't agree to the standard that the FRA and DOT wants us to be subjected to anymore than the next guy. However; we are our own worse enemy in regards to the use of illegal drugs. For the most part, I also believe that the majority of us Professional Railroaders are doing the right thing.

However some have not chosen to give up the use of Pot, Cocaine, Meth, Heroin, Escasy to name a few. We are bound by regulation to conduct a credible drug test if we are responsible for shipping for the Federal Government.

I am certain that the numbers on OPERATION RED BLOCK shows that even in this day and age, drugs are part of today's workplace. I hate having to show my "SHORTY" to someone that is conducting the urinalysis. I believe that the best test is still a hair sample. It does not lie...........

[blizzard07]

Hair samples or blood work much better. Maybe they just have to throw in a little degradation to make themselves feel superior. I disagree that the feds should be monitoring off duty use and for quite practical reasons-this policy has cost us way too many otherwise qualified young people; though the fact is that way more quit because of our brutal, 19th century work schedules than anything else. And the RRs have been scraping the bottom of the barrel for decades now and even resorting to ex cons-a fact they keep quiet. I guess I would rather trust an ocaissional pot smoker with my life than some of these CREEPY ex jailbirds.
The whole thing is part and parcel of the Federal policy of "blaming the railroad worker first"; a policy which has reached ridiculous extremes. Way too much ideology and way too little common sense up there in DC! And speaking of which did you know that the US had almost LOST the Iraq War because of ideologically driven policies? Lucky for us the Al Quaida in Iraq alienated the legitimate "Freedom Fighters" with their "Manson family on steroids" butcheries. The situation had to get desperate before Washington could give up it's boneheaded ways and call up a David Petraeus to fix things. Something of the kind will probably have to happen on the railroads.
Blizz

[jp2153]

My buddy works for a trucking company and when he hired out, he received a 1,000 signing bonus and on his aniversary of employment for safety he received 500.

He told me that he is also subjected to random drug testing and yep, a pee pee checker has to watch his shorty too.

After being with the company, my buddy has also had his training reimbursed at 50% of what he paid for......

What did we get? 4,500 in the hole only to find out 1 month after marking up that we were to be furloughed for 5 months. Now the company can't get enough qualified personel and now must request more transfers from other divisions.

[blizzard07]

and I would not care to EVER see shit like that again! Like some of those 50s/60s era rails were way off the deep end...and now we get to pay for the sins of the fathers. Over the years the bureacrats have taken it too far in the other direction and now we are looking at "a perfect storm" in the industry. And I disagree that rails are not "a special case" in some NASTY bureacratic book-fines, jail, massive drug tests, blatantly unconstitutional Supreme Court rulings, spinoff laws that are really "screw the rail worker" laws, bad press, 19th century working conditions, mediocre pay, fishy smelling union officers the authorities refuse to investigate, petty harassment, trainmasters in the bushes, blame, blame and more blame...and now wiener inspections-Yes Virginia, someone out there really hates railroad operating people. What I have seen of these rail haters has convinced me that railroad ops should be FLATTERED AS ALL HELL-button eyed geeks all. Us old timers can hold better jobs, have miles of experience to draw on, can handle these hardships better than most, and are stuck for the duration in any case-most of these young ones find it all too much to bear. Weiner inspections? Well that will tip even more off the edge at a time when we can't lose anybody.

[amentfan322]

Another thread where I can comment on both sides, as I have smoked pot in high school and then joined the Coast Guard out of high school. Personally, I see nothing wrong with smoking pot,( a view shared by some of my cop buddies, also), BUT the law of the people is the law of the land. However, it should also work both ways. If we are subject to drug and weenie checks, so should everybody in this company, especially the higher officers, whom I might add, have the salaries to afford the higher priced drugs. It's long been known that the people who run "corporate America" are often the worst drug abusers, but its not brought into light as they are not subject to testing. We bust the little man for smoking a joint, but at the same time we turn a blind eye to the doctor or the lawyer snorting a line of coke and then we wonder why we lost the war on drugs. The hypocrisy is sickening. The attitude is very much in line with the railroad's view of firing the train crew regardless of who is at fault. Drug testing is just another way for the upperclass to remind us middleclass people of our place in society.......

[texas]

I've heard they plan on having a designated "pecker checker" down at the yard office, perhaps a certain M.T.O. who has proven himself as an Suck Ass and or a Side Walk Sissie. At any rate it should be a shitty job for the company man.