DRUG TESTING IN THE PUBLIC SECTOR: UNION MEMBER ATTITUDES

MICHAEL H. LE ROY


DOI: 10.2190/1TAE-30U5-XDTU-TYN4

Abstract

This study surveyed 410 unionized public sector employees to determine their attitudes regarding drug testing in the workplace. The overwhelming majority accept drug testing with limits to ensure protection of individual privacy; only a small minority reject all forms of workplace drug testing. In addition, a great majority reject random testing. This study demonstrates that a majority of respondents would feel reasonably or very protected by the implementation of five procedural safeguards. Finally, this study surveyed 386 unionized private sector employees to compare their attitudes with the public sector group. This study found significant differences in the drug-testing attitudes of these two groups, and considered public policy implications of the empirical findings.

Creative Commons License This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.