Union pee-vish over portable urinal bags for Qwest field crews
Use saves time driving to loo; workers see it as too much oversight
A Qwest supervisor in southwestern Colorado took his concerns over extended bathroom breaks to an uncomfortable level, union officials charge.
The manager, they claim, recently gave disposable urinal bags to about 25 male field technicians with the message: When you have to go, don't waste time searching for a public bathroom.
"We deal with a lot of silliness in corporate America, but you've got to admit, it takes the freakin' cake," said Reed Roberts, an administrative director at the Communications Workers of America District 7.
Qwest spokeswoman Jennifer Barton said, "There's no policy whatsoever" requiring field technicians to use the bags.
"They are there for convenience, and they are there because employees asked for them," she said.
Barton said the union hasn't filed a grievance and that she can't speak to the particulars of the alleged incident in the Montrose area.
Roberts said he complained to Qwest's corporate labor relations department about the issue. Neither Qwest nor the CWA disclosed the name of the supervisor in question.
Qwest, like many companies with workers in the field, has for years offered portable urinal bags as an option. At least one of the bags used is called "Brief Relief," made by San Diego-based American Innotek.
In Qwest's field technician orientation meetings, Roberts said, the company has harped on time wasted by returning to the garage or central office for bathroom breaks.
In addition, Roberts said, the issue is associated with Qwest increasingly using GPS (global positioning systems) to track the whereabouts and productivity of its workers at all times.
Roberts said that as far as he can tell, a "first-level manager took it upon himself to cut down on the time technicians spend to go to the bathroom."
Women aren't being required to use the bags, according to a union employee familiar with the matter.
Brief Relief is described on the company's Web site as a "20-ounce plastic pouch with a one-way valve and funnel that leads liquid waste to a holding compartment filled with a proprietary blend of powdered enzymes, polymers and deodorizers."
It can save time and "boost morale," according to the Web site.
Ryan Hiott, one of American Innotek's regional directors, confirmed Qwest is a customer along with other telephone companies, electric utilities, municipal public works departments and various industrial companies. He said the Federal Emergency Management Agency ordered 2.5 million bags after Hurricane Katrina.
Hiott said the product often makes sense for crews working underground or in the field for an extended period of time.
"A lot of times it doesn't make sense to pack up a truck and drive to a McDonald's just to find a restroom," Hiott said.
He said many companies don't want employees to use customers' bathrooms because of exposure to potential litigation.
Rob Douglas, a Colorado privacy consultant, said he can see companies making the portable bags available but that management should respect employees who are concerned about using them. One employee concern raised to the union was the possibility of being spotted using the bag on the side of a road and being charged with public indecency.
"(Another) key point is that they are used in conjunction with GPS, and companies are monitoring whenever field techs go outside the work area to get to a restroom facility," Douglas said. "It's part of a larger issue where management is trying to get every ounce of productivity (from a worker)."
Hiott said companies that have tried to require their employees to use the bags have butted heads with their unions. He said he knows of companies that have requested their workers to keep a couple "in the glove box."
Ford Motor Co. in 2005 reportedly started tracking bathroom breaks in efforts to increase productivity. Barton said there's been no such effort at Qwest.
"We don't conduct studies on bathroom breaks," she said.
smithje@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5155
