Negotiating on the health and safety of new and expectant mothers

The LRD Payline database has details of an agreement on breastfeeding at Edinburgh City Council which says: “For the period until a child is one year old employees should, wherever practicable, be granted paid time off and access to a private room/area, other than a toilet, for the purposes of expressing breast milk and a refrigerator to store such expressed milk; and/or unpaid time off during normal working hours to breast feed a baby who is being cared for in a location within close proximity to their work location.”

UNISON’s guide to bargaining for maternity rights, updated in 2013, advises union reps to try to negotiate for a second risk assessment to be automatically carried out when a woman returns from maternity leave. Appropriate changes to working patterns and rest facilities should be provided.