DECENT SANITATION IS A VITAL RIGHT FOR WORKERS

Angela Ransome has been a bus driver in Ontario, Canada since 2014. She is a member of the Canadian transport union UNIFOR, and loves her job.

Access to decent sanitation facilities, however, is one of the biggest challenges for her and her colleagues

“The lack of sanitation facilities at terminals is a big problem for bus drivers. Sometimes there are no washrooms even made available to us,” she said.

“When you are thinking, ’oh my goodness I have to go use the washroom’, it will make you want to use it more. Nobody wants to have an accident at work, especially as an adult; it is embarrassing and should not be happening.”

Angela said the situation for female bus drivers at her workplace has dete riorated over recent years.

“We used to have ‘his’ and ‘hers’ toilets five years ago, but someone com plained because males began using the ladies’ washrooms,” she said.

“Male workers use the women’s toilet because they only have a few minutes to get off the bus and go to the toilet quickly.

“After the complaints by women workers, the company management decided to make all toilets unisex. From a female perspective, sharing the washroom with men is unsafe and dirty. We have to wipe the seats before we use them.”

Safe access to decent sanitation facilities is vital for all workers, but it is an issue felt particularly acutely by women transport workers.

To break down these barriers for women working in the transport industry, and the wider world of work, and to ensure dignity and safety for all workers, trade unions around the world are taking up the campaign for better conditions.

Angela’s story is part of a new international exposé of the sanitation conditions faced by workers in public transport around the world.

The report, Sanitation rights are human rights: public transport worker voices, profiles the stories of public transport workers and their everyday reality of having insufficient access to safe, clean, decent sanitation facilities.

You can read the full report here: https://www.itfglobal.org/sites/ default/files/node/resources/files/

Angela Ranseom