ShareThisA Qwest supervisor in southwestern Colorado took his concerns over extended bathroom breaks to an uncomfortable level, union officials charge.
They claim the manager for the Denver-based communications technology firm 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.
"There's no policy whatsoever" requiring field technicians to use the bags, Qwest spokeswoman Jennifer Barton said. "They are there for convenience, and they are there because employees asked for them."
Barton said that 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.
Qwest, like many companies with workers in the field, has for years offered portable urinal bags as an option. In field technician orientation meetings, Roberts said, the company has harped on time wasted by returning to a 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 workers' whereabouts and productivity 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 required to use the bags, a union employee said.
At least one is called "Brief Relief," made by San Diego-based American Innotek. Its Web site describes 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," the Web site says.
Ryan Hiott, an Innotek regional director, 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: "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."
Many companies don't want employees to use customers' bathrooms because of exposure to potential litigation, Hiott added.
Rob Douglas, a Colorado privacy consultant, said he can see companies making the portable bags available -- but management should respect employees' concerns. One issue raised to the union was the possibility of being spotted using the bag on a roadside and being charged with public indecency.
The bags "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 told 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.
(Contact Jeff Smith of the Rocky Mountain News at Smithje(at)RockyMountainNews.com.)
