" I am always amazed in the post 911 environment, with governments even in the western world democracies running roughshod over civil liberties and introducing rules for one reason and then applying them for another (eg RIPA) to hear intelligent people say 'if you have nothing to hide just trust those decent honest politicians' "
Radgirl,
Precisely. We tried fighting this in the US on Fourth Amendment grounds...and obviously failed.
Alleging any politicians are either decent or honest (yours can't possibly be any different) is a complete fantasy. The motive of these vote trollops is to convince a naive Larry Lunch Pail they are acting in his best interest; protecting him from evil...a blatant falsehood.
Back when our illustrious former Secretary of Transportation, Elizabeth Dole, was ramrodding drug testing here, I had the misfortune to witness her testimony before the Senate Transportation Subcommittee hearing on drug abuse in the "transportation" industry; "transportation" industry...trains, trucks, ship and airplanes. It was the embodiment of kangaroo court relative to the airline industry. The sneering arrogant contempt with which the national ALPA aeromedical chairman and ALPA lawyer were treated would make your blood boil. You could see the consternation on their faces as they were derided by the senators on the panel as they tried to explain the HIMS program. I didn't know him personally but the medical chairman lived in my neighborhood so called him to hear he was stunned at the treatment he received; he had been asked to testify on behalf of the airline industry and then treated like dirt.
[There must be a video of that hearing somewhere but I can't find it. It should be required viewing]
If you folks over there are going to have this put on you, you'd better have every imaginable protection for the employee built in: detailed education of flight crews, split sample collection, independent medical review officer, legal representation HIMS, etc.
You're dealing with snakes. Proceed accordingly.
Last edited by bafanguy; 9th Dec 2016 at 19:48.