Hazards: Loo Break A Right Not A Privilege

UK unions have launched a campaign to give every worker the right to take toilet breaks without threat of employer pressure, pay docking, surveillance or other disincentives.

The UK's Hazards magazine has revealed that workers in many industries are facing health risks as a result of mean bosses determined to punish workers for any productivity lost while on the loo.

It says some workers have taken to wearing adult diapers while others have had to put up with lack of privacy and loss of pay.

According to Hazards, "Mean bosses at Brown Brothers' factory in Kirkconnell, Scotland docked their workers' wages for the time they spend in the loo.

"The workers' union TGWU objected after the 200 staff were issued with smart cards that deduct their pay for the time they're away from the factory floor.

"One worker said in one week employers had pinched £5.28, an hours wages, from his wage packet just for going to the loo," Hazards says.

Meanwhile, Australian employers also get a mention:

"In Australia, the installation in 2002 of permanent cameras in the toilets of a drug testing facility in Mount Isa Mines (MIM) was condemned as a gross invasion of privacy and 'an example of drug testing policy gone mad' by the Australian Manufacturing Workers' Union (AMWU).

"AMWU is concerned that MIM has cameras permanently positioned at its facility capable of close-up filming of both men and women urinating."

Hazards says there is a range of negative health impacts from not being able to go to the toilet when nature calls, including:

• urinary tract infections (UTIs)
• renal damage
• constipation
• abdominal pain
• diverticuli
• haemorrhoids
• bowel distension
• incontinence

As part of Hazards' campaign it is calling for:

• HSE to clarify rest break requirements to state explicitly that in all but exceptional circumstances workers can choose to go to the loo when they want. There should be sufficient workers to provide relief, so the employer can let you go.
• DTI to amend the law so peeing is not a privilege, but a right on paid work time.
• Employers to respect our privacy and our right to go without docking our pay, and to provide clean and adequate facilities.
• Employers' organisations and government agencies to join unions in campaigning to get employers to show some respect at work.

To visit the campaign website, please click here.

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Last modified: Tuesday, 15-Nov-2005 20:37:38 EST