Right to use bathroom interfered with in Britain

Shi Huangdi · February 21, 2003, 17:47

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/2786125.stm

Quote:

UK workers 'denied loo breaks'

Most British workers are too busy to go to the lavatory, according to research published on Friday.
Some even have their pay cut every time they spend a penny.

And more than one out of every four workers say they cross their legs because of the poor state of factory and office facilities.

But on Friday the Trades Union Congress (TUC) is launching a campaign, called Gotta Go, to make bosses treat staff with greater respect.

HAVE YOUR SAY
Are workers' rights in the toilet?
My boss stood outside the cubicle listening, then fired me

John, UK

Join the debate

UK health and safety regulations state employers must provide enough suitable, clean, accessible, adequately ventilated and well-lit lavatories to allow everyone at work to use them without undue delay.

But a legal loophole means employees do not have the right to use them at their convenience.

Staff at a factory in Dumfriesshire have to use an electronic smart card to excuse themselves, according to the TUC survey.

And one worker was docked an hour's wages, £5.28, during the course of a single week.

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

TUC

The TUC is calling on the government to make it clear workers can use the loo whenever they have the urge - except where that could endanger their colleagues.

It hopes the practice will become "bog standard" and stop bosses spying on staff or keeping notes on how frequently they go and how long they take.

At one workplace, staff said part of the toilet door was cut off so managers could check they were not smoking.

Elsewhere a pregnant night-shift worker at a factory in Southampton had to be escorted by a security guard across a badly lit car park to the nearest women's toilet.

TUC general secretary elect Brendan Barber said: "It is incredible that in the 21st 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."

Thoughts?

Boris Godunov · February 21, 2003, 17:49

Sorry, I was in the bathroom. Come again?

Oerdin · February 21, 2003, 17:51

"We're going to strike unless you let us piss when we want to!"

That sounds like something straight out of the industrial revolution. I could understand if it was on an assembly line but why have such morale killing rules in the services sector?

Nubclear · February 21, 2003, 17:52

After the collapse of their empire......

THE BRITISH WENT MAD!!!!

Dauphin · February 21, 2003, 17:59

There is an astounding lack of figures or other information about how widespread the problem suppodedly is.

Bugs ****ing Bunny · February 21, 2003, 18:36

It's widespread in call centres. I once worked with a manager who expected her team members to ask permission to use the toilets.

Eventually they threatened a strike, and she went off sick with stress. Funny.

Stefu · February 21, 2003, 18:40

Why, the nerve of perfidious Albion! I'll say!

red_jon · February 21, 2003, 21:45

Thankfully we can now go to the European Court of Human Rights for stuff like this and get lots of money off them

loinburger · February 21, 2003, 22:14

Quote:

My boss stood outside the cubicle listening, then fired me

John, UK

Was he taking a dump in the cubicle or something?

Shi Huangdi · February 22, 2003, 00:55

Quote:

Originally posted by loinburger

Was he taking a dump in the cubicle or something?

go to reader comments. it says he was fired for taking too long.

Oerdin · February 22, 2003, 03:25

That's not nearly as funny as having him dump in the cubicle.

Shi Huangdi · February 22, 2003, 03:30

Quote:

Originally posted by red_jon
Thankfully we can now go to the European Court of Human Rights for stuff like this and get lots of money off them

So in other words, the British are incapable ofgoverning themselves and needs a group of people from the continent to make adjustments for them?

Dis · February 22, 2003, 03:46

serves them right for living in England.

Bugs ****ing Bunny · February 22, 2003, 05:03

Quote:

Originally posted by Shi Huangdi

So in other words, the British are incapable ofgoverning themselves and needs a group of people from the continent to make adjustments for them?

No. We need a bunch of muesli-eating beaurocrats to pass rules on all the boring stuff like the preservation of human dignity. That lets our red-blooded real-men governments concentrate on stuff like poking immigrants with sticks and making bombs.

Urban Ranger · February 22, 2003, 11:54

I'd just pee on the spot. That serves them right.

chequita guevara · February 22, 2003, 12:00

This happens a lot in the US in sweatshops. I know of both garment and food processing factories that do not allow employees to use the bathroom (or if they do, they are clocked and docked). Delta Pride Catfish and Tyson Chicken are two such places where this occurs.

UR, workers in the stockyard slaughterhouses in Chicago used to urinate on the spot. Like everything else, it got mixed in with the sausage.

Bugs ****ing Bunny · February 22, 2003, 12:02

That's half-arsed. A real man would just climb onto his desk and perform a straining and tortured bowel evacuation.

Being British, everyone else would pretend it wasn't happening.

red_jon · February 22, 2003, 12:16

Quote:

Originally posted by Shi Huangdi

So in other words, the British are incapable ofgoverning themselves and needs a group of people from the continent to make adjustments for them?

Pretty much. At least it's stopped us prosecuting gay people for having consentual sex in groups.

What's the plan for America?

Wezil · February 22, 2003, 18:42

What about those who abuse bathroom breaks as a method of dodging work? Not only is it unfair to the employer but also your fellow workmates.

It's easy to rant and rave about how unfair the employers can be (and they can be), but what about the 'bad' employee?

Urban Ranger · February 23, 2003, 00:12

Quote:

Originally posted by chegitz guevara
UR, workers in the stockyard slaughterhouses in Chicago used to urinate on the spot. Like everything else, it got mixed in with the sausage.

Oh yum, extra nitrogen.

Shi Huangdi · February 23, 2003, 00:57

Quote:

Originally posted by Wezil
What about those who abuse bathroom breaks as a method of dodging work? Not only is it unfair to the employer but also your fellow workmates.

It's easy to rant and rave about how unfair the employers can be (and they can be), but what about the 'bad' employee?

As long as it is not extreme, such as taking like a 4 15 minute breaks once a day, I would think employers need not busy themselves in the business of deciding how long is too long in the bathroom?

Jack_www · February 23, 2003, 02:12

What the hell? Workers get docked pay for just going to the bathroom?? I am just gald that were I work I can go to the bathroom when ever I need to, and no one docks my pay. Allthough I work a public school and I have to use the bathroom the students use, so you can imagine how bad they are.

Ted Striker · February 23, 2003, 02:18

Quote:

Originally posted by Wezil
What about those who abuse bathroom breaks as a method of dodging work? Not only is it unfair to the employer but also your fellow workmates.

It's easy to rant and rave about how unfair the employers can be (and they can be), but what about the 'bad' employee?

What the hell?

How you know they are dodging work?

Some people may not be eating enough fibre and so it takes them literally 15 minutes to take a dump or something!

Give 'em a break slave trader!!!

Dis · February 23, 2003, 03:26

my job involves going from location to location fixing things. Sometimes I am in the bad areas of town like gangland neighborhoods. I'm also in white trash neighborhood. Those bathrooms are beyond disgusting. I like working in the good areas of town

Some of the bathrooms I have been in were so disgusting I didn't even want to take a piss in them.

Urban Ranger · February 23, 2003, 12:31

Sounds like the kind of management that should only be found in history's trash bins.

Boris Godunov · February 23, 2003, 12:35

Quote:

Originally posted by Wezil
What about those who abuse bathroom breaks as a method of dodging work? Not only is it unfair to the employer but also your fellow workmates.

It's easy to rant and rave about how unfair the employers can be (and they can be), but what about the 'bad' employee?

It's a fairly simple task to see if a worker's productivity is suffering. Should an employee be taking unreasonable breaks, it will become self-evident in his work output. Then management can reprimand the employee based on an actual loss in quality/quantity of work, not some stupid time limits on going to the bathroom.

Any manager worth his salt wouldn't care how long an employee went to the bathroom, so long as he did his job with the expected level of proficiency. That's called keeping good workplace morale, which is far more important and effective than timing people's shits.

chequita guevara · February 23, 2003, 12:35

Quote:

Originally posted by Urban Ranger
Oh yum, extra nitrogen.

Better than when you got the sausage the day after some poor slob fainted. Workers did occiasionally disappear while at work. You ought to read Upton Sinclair's classic novel The Jungle. It's about the harsh life of immigrants in America and industrial capitalism, but his depiction of the worker who became sausage had a such an impact on America that the Federal government had to start inspecting meat.

Of course, some folks would like to go back to the days of unregulated mystery meats. Most of us call them idiots, but they like to call themselves Libertarians.

Urban Ranger · February 23, 2003, 12:38

che,

Sounds like an interesing book I should read some time. Nice backhanded slam against the Libertarians.

Dis · February 23, 2003, 13:55

in any case they should at least allow one bathroom break per hour with a limit of 10 minutes.

In the U.S. they have what we called "breaks". These aren't just smoking/bullsh!tting breaks. You are to use this time to use the restroom as well. Once you are off break you cannot use the restroom. Although if it was an emergency they would probably make and exception if you are sick and about to vomit. Or explosive diareha

Chemical Ollie · February 23, 2003, 15:55

Why can't you call thing by their proper names? I have never seen a bath tube in a public bathroom or a bed in the restroom.