Unite toilet breaks campaign


General union Unite is campaigning for improved welfare provision in all workplaces and highlighting the devastating effect that the closure of public toilets has had on workers’ health, especially mobile workers and disabled people. Many workers have difficulty in getting access to toilets and washing facilities at all, with mobile workers particularly affected. Toilet closures are one factor, and access to facilities is often an issue when making deliveries, especially if they have to queue for a long period. Many employers refuse to give access to non-employees, and even when they do so facilities are often dirty and of very poor quality.



Some of the problems it highlights include the following:


• civil aviation workers have reported aircraft departing on long haul flights without any functioning toilet or water facilities on board. Unite is campaigning to make it a legal requirement to have running water and toilets on all passenger aircraft;



• office workers being asked to put their hands up when they want to go to the toilet;



• factory workers being denied pay for toilet breaks;



• the needs of women in male-dominated workplaces being ignored (even in new build workplaces), for example with bins for sanitary product disposal not being provided;



• welfare facilities alongside railway tracks are either non-existent or demolished without consultation, leaving track workers at remote worksites without access to washing, rest and toilet facilities;



• toilets not being provided at all: the HSE still regularly has to take enforcement action regarding lack of welfare facilities for workers on construction sites;



• disabled workers – and lorry drivers – being blamed for the state of the toilet; and



• workplace toilet access becoming contentious in workplaces when trans people are making the transition, if the situation is not managed sensitively.



Unite lorry driver Mick Symon took part in a successful campaign to reopen public toilets in Dunblane, Scotland after hearing a presentation by Gill Kemp of the campaign group British Toilet Association about the potential health problems for HGV drivers unable to access toilet facilities while out on the road. The Unite Road Transport Commercial-Logistics and Retail Distribution National Committee member explained that thousands of workers, including lorry drivers, van and coach drivers, and emergency service peripatetic workers, are unable to access decent, clean toilets, and, as a result, could be at risk of kidney and urinary tract infections and intestinal problems. As a result of the campaign, the local council agreed to pay for the refurbishment of the toilets, which was completed in December 2016.


Dignity, respect, equality and welfare at work: it’s time for a toilet break! provides more information about Unite’s campaign, and highlights examples of where union action has resulted in improvements. It can be downloaded from Unite’s website (www.unitetheunion.org/uploaded/documents/(JN7023)%20A4%20Time%20For%20a%20Loo%20Break%20Unite%20guidance11-23699.pdf).