Image: Dreamstime / Gabriel Petrescu
The Unite union has launched a campaign to secure better facilities for women working on construction sites, with a Multiplex site the first to sign up.
The move came after a survey of its women construction members found that a lack of facilities, particularly when women were having their periods, was a “major issue” for many workers.
Members’ responses to the survey included: “The toilets where I’m working are unisex portaloos. These are usually disgusting.”
Another said: “One portaloo. No separate changing facilities. No sanitary product bins or dispensers. Asked for sanitary bins, got ignored. If a female says anything they don’t like, they put it down to PMT.”
In response, Unite has launched a four-point plan to ensure construction “period dignity” and is asking companies to sign up to:
- Ensure each site or depot has a designated female toilet, which is always accessible, regularly cleaned and lockable;
- Handwashing facilities with running water and soap are provided in all welfare facilities;
- Sanitary bins are provided and they are cleaned and emptied regularly;
- Sanitary products are provided in a dispenser in a discreet location, free to workers.
The first site to sign up to Unite’s campaign is the Glasgow University Campus development which is being built by Multiplex.
“At Multiplex, we are committed to providing great workspaces for everyone, which includes making our sites as comfortable for women as they are for men, so supporting the Period Dignity campaign at our University of Glasgow Campus Development project complements what we currently provide," said Caron Dunlop, head of community engagement at Multiplex.
"Our work identifying new ways of improving our workspaces for everyone has recently led to the development of a whole new standard for temporary construction accommodation and offices – Multiplex Better Workspaces – and we are planning to certify all of our sites to this standard by the end of the year.”
Unite says other sites are expected to sign up in the coming weeks.
Unite activists have been supplied with letters, posters, leaflets and a petition in order to lobby their employer to ensure that Unite’s period dignity campaign is adopted at their workplace.
Unite assistant general secretary Gail Cartmail said: “Unite is asking construction employers to sign up to four basic demands which will ensure that women workers can experience period dignity.
“With ever growing skills shortages in our industry, it is absolutely essential that construction becomes more attractive to women workers. A small step in achieving this is to ensure that women construction workers can have period dignity at work.
“Unite welcomes Multiplex’s role as a trailblazer in signing up to the campaign and will continue to highlight other sites and companies which also sign up in the future.”
