In
mid-June, Florida Governor Rick Scott signed a welfare drug-testing
bill and in March gave an executive order for drug testing of state
workers by May 22. The weapon of drug testing is used by the ruling
class to vilify workers and poor people, often in the most racist
ways.
Workers
and poor people with drug and alcohol problems should be offered free
treatment services on demand, and workers should only be submitted to
testing when there is reason for suspicion and other people’s lives
are at risk. Rather than punishment through firing, workers should be
offered the opportunity to recover from the illness of addiction.
The
executive order means that bosses can randomly order drug tests of
any state employee at any time without suspicion—another attack on
organized workers like Scott’s merit-pay law for teachers. It also
drug-tests state employees upon hire. Currently, state employees
found using illegal substances or other substances on the job in
office positions are required to seek treatment. They can be
dismissed if caught a second time.
The
welfare law requires that welfare recipients pass a drug test upon
applying for services. The law only covers those who receiveTemporary
Assistance for Needy Families—children would still be eligible for
services.
TANF
programs exist in about a fifth of the states and are a result of
President Bill Clinton’s reform of the welfare system. These
reforms cap the
amount of aid families can receive and require them to ultimately
become “self-sufficient” by working.
In
Florida, aid only lasts for two
years, with just 50,000 families receiving benefits. Florida’s
conservative “official” unemployment estimate is 11 percent, but
other estimates, especially for oppressed communities, indicate state
unemployment rates several times that number.
A
similar law that passed in Michigan in 2003 was found
unconstitutional by the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals because the law
violated the Fourth Amendment—the right against unreasonable search
and seizure. But Florida now is the test case as other states have
their eyes on creating similar anti-poor programs.
Scott
loves government intervention when it lines his pockets
Before
Scott’s gubernatorial campaign, he held a meeting with a Florida
so-called “ethics committee.”
No public records were created in the Florida Commission on Ethics.
Scott
moved all his controlling stocks in the urgent-care
chain Solantic into a revocable trust to Frances Annette Scott, his
wife. A revocable trust is simply a document that puts one’s assets
in the name of another person and can be revoked at any time.
A
popular service at Solantic centers is drug testing, but not for
those receiving government assistance. Of course, Scott has made
moves to have HMOs like his the choice carriers for those on
Medicaid.
The
law also requires that applicants pay out of pocket for the drug-test
fees, which range from $35 to $40, reimbursing TANF applicants in the
first aid check if the test is negative. One study found that the
mandatory testing program could actually cost the state more, even
when factoring in that some individuals would be prevented from
receiving aid if they tested positive for drugs. However, it is clear
that this program has nothing to do with saving money and everything
to do with harassing workers and the poor.
Labor
fights back
On
June 1, a suit was filed on behalf of 50,000 public workers of
Council 79 American Federation of State, County and Municipal
Employees and Richard Flamm, a 17-year state employee and research
scientist employed at the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation
Commission with the Fish and Wildlife Research Institute in St.
Petersburg. The suit was filed by the American Civil Liberties Union
of Florida to block the implementation of Executive Order 11-58,
which mandated the drug testing.
All
labor, progressive and revolutionary forces need to stand with state
workers and welfare recipients to push back these hateful measures,
but it is going to take a strong, united movement to ultimately do
away with a system that vilifies working and poor people, those
affected by the illness of addiction and the rulers who benefit from
such a wretched system.
