A LEADING trade union has accused Newry, Mourne and Down Council of not treating its female staff members with dignity.
Unite said local authority management must accord women “period dignity” and criticised the council’s inadequate approach which seeks to place onus on staff for donations to addressing what it describes as “period poverty”.
The trade union’s regional women’s and equalities officer, Taryn Trainor, said council management should focus on providing women with dignity and normalising a natural biological process.
Confirming that Unite challenged what she described as the “insulting and patronising approach “adopted by council management in response to her union’s period dignity campaign, Mrs Trainor said that over the past year, the trade union has been leading a period dignity campaign that sought to address the growing problem of period poverty and the fact that women are forced to feel shame or embarrassment about their periods.
The trade union official explained that key objectives of the campaign include ensuring that tampons and other sanitary products are provided free by employers and public authorities, are zero rated for VAT and that having a period is viewed as a natural facet of female biology.
“While some employers such as Rolls Royce and even other councils in Northern Ireland have adopted an enlightened approach to this issue, sadly Newry, Mourne and Down has adopted a very retrogressive attitude,” Mrs Trainor declared.
“Instead of providing sanitary materials free – on the same basis as toilet rolls are provided – the local authority has placed the onus on their already poorly-paid staff to donate sanitary products in order to address the growing problem of period poverty.
“What is perhaps even more shocking is the language used by management in launching their ‘Pink Present’ campaign. An email sent to staff claimed the issue of period poverty was a ‘silent’ issue that needed to be dealt with in a ‘discreet’ way by staff.”
Mrs Trainor said it was “entirely unacceptable” that women and girls were made to feel that their “time of the month” was inconvenient or shameful. Indeed, she said women and men have shied away from talking about periods openly for far too long.
She added: “Unite believes that, by changing perceptions, we can tackle some of the wider issues around periods. We want access to sanitary products in the workplace and schools to be as normal as having access to things such as toilet roll. Management of Newry, Mourne and Down Council need to change course and treat their female workforce with dignity.”
A council spokeswoman said the organisation was carrying out the ‘Pink Present’ pilot scheme as a response to the increasingly recognised issue of ‘period poverty’ within the wider community.
“We are facilitating donations so that products are available to anybody who needs them,” she said.
“This project is being carried out in partnership with the Southern Health Trust and Southern Regional College and is an initiative which has previously been run in other parts of Northern Ireland,” the spokeswoman continued.
“There is currently limited data and statistical evidence on what the local need is for a period poverty project and this is what this pilot is trying to establish. We are very happy with how the scheme has been supported to date and will evaluate the scheme after the pilot has ended.”
The spokeswoman said the local authority was “committed” to working with all its partners to deal with any health inequalities that are prevalent within the district and would continue to explore ways of helping those people in most need.