22-02-2003 02:47									#1
	Right to use bathroom interfered with in Britain Support Apolyton buy from Amazon

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?

	22-02-2003 02:49									#2
	Support Apolyton or Terrorists Win

Sorry, I was in the bathroom. Come again?

	22-02-2003 02:51									#3
	Enter the AD-FREE zone

"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?

	22-02-2003 02:52									#4
	Support Apolyton buy from Amazon

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

THE BRITISH WENT MAD!!!!

	22-02-2003 02:59									#5
	Support Apolyton, pre-order Civilization IV

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

	22-02-2003 03:36									#6
	Support Apolyton buy from Amazon

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.

	22-02-2003 03:40									#7
	Full PM-box? Change here!

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

	22-02-2003 06:45									#8
	Support Apolyton, buy Galactic Civilizations: Deluxe Edition

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

	22-02-2003 07:14									#9
	Support Apolyton, buy GURPS/ Alpha Centauri

quote: My boss stood outside the cubicle listening, then fired me John, UK

Was he taking a dump in the cubicle or something?

	22-02-2003 09:55									#10
	Put an end to popups!

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.

	22-02-2003 12:25									#11
	Get a bigger avatar today!

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

	22-02-2003 12:30									#12
	Support Apolyton buy from Amazon

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?

	22-02-2003 12:46									#13
	Support Apolyton

serves them right for living in England.

	22-02-2003 14:03									#14
	Increase Your PM Length

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.

	22-02-2003 20:54									#15
	Support Apolyton, buy Galactic Civilizations

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

	22-02-2003 21:00									#16
	Support Apolyton buy from Amazon

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.

	22-02-2003 21:02									#17
	Support Apolyton, pre-order Civilization IV

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.

	22-02-2003 21:16									#18
	Enter the AD-FREE zone

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?

	23-02-2003 03:42									#19
	Put an end to popups!

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?

	23-02-2003 09:12									#20
	Inflate your Upload Space

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.

	23-02-2003 09:57									#21
	Suffering from ads?

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?

	23-02-2003 11:12									#22
	Avatar Enlargement: We've got the solution

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.

	23-02-2003 11:18									#23
	Increase Your PM Length

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!!!

	23-02-2003 12:26									#24
	Support Apolyton or Terrorists Win

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.

	23-02-2003 21:31									#25
	Support Apolyton or Terrorists Win

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

	23-02-2003 21:35									#26
	Support Apolyton, buy Call to Power 2

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.

	23-02-2003 21:35									#27
	Avatar Enlargement: We've got the solution

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.

	23-02-2003 21:38									#28
	Remove this text

che,

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

	23-02-2003 22:55									#29
	Support Apolyton, buy GURPS/ Alpha Centauri

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

	24-02-2003 00:55									#30
	Enter the AD-FREE zone

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.