19 November 2025
RMT Press Office:
RMT today exposed widespread failures in welfare provision for transport workers, with new survey evidence and frontline testimony showing that women in particular are being denied safe, clean and accessible toilet facilities, leaving employers in breach of basic dignity and clear legal duties.
Coinciding with UN World Toilet Day, RMT is highlighting inadequate welfare for provision for bus workers, track workers on Network Rail, mobile ground staff in freight and workers in road logistics.
A survey of overhead line patrol workers on the railways shows that only 3 percent always have access to a toilet within a reasonable distance and more than 72 percent rarely or never have access.
These failures hit women hardest, and survey testimony shows they are unable to manage basic hygiene safely, often limit water intake to avoid needing a toilet, and are left without facilities suitable for a modern mixed workforce.
One survey respondent said:
“For women on the railway there isn’t enough sanitary waste bins… it’s quite literally impossible to go to the toilet unless it’s in a shop or restaurant.”
Another wrote:
“There is little consideration for the growing number of female staff we are getting.”
And in one of the clearest signs of how far standards have slipped, a worker reported:
“One got given a she wee and mini tent — the company is a joke.”
Workers also describe being forced into unsafe and unhealthy practices.
Two testimonies highlight women deliberately restricting fluid intake with one worker saying:
“We have female staff that actively limit their consumption of fluids to negate the need to use a bathroom on site.”
These experiences sit within a wider pattern of welfare collapse. A total of 97 percent of workers said they must rely on public toilets in petrol stations or fast food sites.
More than 71 percent said they are never provided with clean and private washing or changing facilities.
Almost 70 percent rated welfare vehicles as poor or very poor.
Workers report blocked toilets, overflowing waste tanks, and welfare vans that are locked with keys held by only a few staff.
Others said Safe Work Packs list facilities that do not exist or are closed at night. Several noted declines linked to the Modernising Maintenance programme. A total of 38 percent said welfare has got significantly worse since its introduction.
Under health and safety laws, employers must provide clean, accessible and gender-appropriate toilets and washing facilities.
The survey shows widespread non-compliance, with 55 percent saying current facilities do not meet legal standards and 41 percent unsure.
A total of 68 percent reported health problems such as dehydration, infections and fatigue that they believe are linked to poor welfare.
Eddie Dempsey, RMT General Secretary, said: “Women working on our railways are being failed every day.
"No worker should have to limit water intake or hunt for a public toilet in the middle of the night.
"These failures break the law, put people at risk and they strip our members of their most basic dignity.
“RMT will fight vigorously for every transport worker, whether on the railways, buses, road logistics or in freight, to have safe, clean and accessible welfare facilities as a basic right.
"No employer has any excuse for the disgraceful standards our members are facing and it is time they got their act together."
END
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