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Attention: industrial, health, social affairs correspondents, news and planning desks, health and safety media

Please relieve me, let me go - TUC campaigns for respect for workers’ right to go

The TUC is launching a campaign today (Friday) to force Britain’s bosses to treat their workers with respect and provide them with the right to paid time off to spend a penny.

The TUC sets out its s ‘Gotta go’ campaign in the Spring issue of the TUC-backed health and safety magazine ‘Hazards’ www.hazards.org/toiletbreaks In the article, 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 2002 survey found that 54% of British workers were too busy to take toilet breaks and a quarter of those questioned said that the poor condition of workplace loos put 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.

To help workers find out more about their bathroom rights, the TUC has answered some commonly asked questions on www.worksmart.org.uk - its world of work website - such as: My workplace washroom is filthy - shouldn’t my employer keep it in a better state? Does my employer have to provide separate male and female loos? Is my employer allowed to dock my pay for taking loo breaks?

TUC General Secretary Elect Brendan Barber said: 'It’s incredible to think that in the twenty first century, workers are still being penalised for going to the loo. 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.'

The TUC wants workers to send in their loo break woes to draw attention to the problem, and shame bad bosses into providing better toilet breaks. Examples of disrespect can be sent by email to badbogs@worksmart.org.uk or posted to 'Got to Go' at TUC, Congress House, Great Russell Street, London WC1B 3LS.

The TUC campaign has a number of case studies to highlight the crazy khazi situation in many UK workplaces:

• Dumfriesshire-based meat factory Brown Brothers 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 at the Kirkconnell factory 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!'

• Steel union ISTC told the TUC that managers at Albion Pressed Metals in Cannock 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. A pregnant night shift worker at a Ford plant in Southampton 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 TUC’s ‘Gotta go’ campaign is calling for:

• Employers to make sure that they are meeting health and safety regulations on the provision of good quality, sufficient in number workplace toilets. It also wants bosses to start to trust their staff enough to let them go to the loo without spying on them or keeping a note of how long they go for or how often they go.

• The government to make it clear that employees can go to the loo during paid working time, and that workers can choose to go to the toilet whenever they need to except where that could endanger other workers.

• N otes to Editors:

All TUC press releases can be found at www.tuc.org.uk

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A series of TUC rights leaflets are available on our website and from the know your rights line 0870 600 4 882. Lines are open every day from 8am-10pm. Calls are charged at the national rate.

Hazards magazine is the TUC-backed workplace health and safety magazine and is recommended reading for all trade union safety reps and others concerned about workplace safety. Hazards, PO Box 199, Sheffield S1 4YL (0114 267 8936) email: sub@hazards.org Online subscriptions: www.hazards.org/subscribe.htm

Contacts:

Media enquiries: Liz Chinchen on 020 7467 1248 or 07699 744115 (pager) or email media@tuc.org.uk

Press release (1,000 words) issued 21 Feb 2003