Public Servant Lifestyle

The Trades Union Congress (TUC) is campaigning for Britain’s bosses to treat their workers with respect, and provide them with the right to paid time off to spend a penny.

In its Gotta Go campaign, the TUC draws attention to a legal loophole which says that Britain’s bosses have got to provide lavatories for their staff, but don’t have to let them go when they want.

The TUC wants workers to have the right to go on paid time, without the loss of any wages. "Peeing is not a privilege" says the TUC, and notes that some employers are working their staff so hard that they don’t even have the time to visit the gents or the ladies. A new survey finds that 54% of British workers are too busy to take toilet breaks, with a quarter of those questioned saying that the poor condition of workplace loos puts them off going.

Under UK health and safety regulations, employers have got to provide suitable, sufficient, clean, accessible, adequately ventilated and well lit conveniences. There must be enough toilets to allow everyone at work to use them without undue delay, especially if there are a number of workers who start, lunch and finish at the same time.

"It’s incredible to think that in the 21st century, workers are still being penalised for going to the loo," says TUC general secretary elect Brendan Barber. "Employers clinging to Dickensian bathroom break policies should understand that if they trusted and respected their staff, and treated them as adults, not naughty children, they would end up with a healthier, better motivated, more productive workforce."

Binding Arbitration

The TUC says that one Scottish employer docks the pay of its 200-strong workforce every time they have to answer a call of nature. To use the toilet, staff must use a smart card to excuse themselves from the factory floor. One worker said that managers had pinched £5.28 - an hour’s wages - in one week, for the time he’d spent going to the loo.

George Hodge of the T&G union says that as a result of his union’s campaigning, managers have agreed to binding arbitration on the toilet question to be chaired by ACAS. He says: The motto amongst the workforce there is ‘Have a break - have a quick c**p!"

Another union told the TUC that managers at an organisation in the English east Midlands had nine inches cut off the bottom of toilet doors so that they could catch workers smoking.

Women working in mostly male workplaces can face particular problems, says the TUC. In one instance, a pregnant night shift worker had to be escorted by a security guard across a badly lit car park to the nearest woman’s toilet. Once there he had to unlock it, wait for her to finish and then escort her back.

The Gotta Go campaign is calling for:

More information available in Work Environment