The union believes that the Neuchâtel watch manufacturer Singer discriminates against women by forcing all its employees to stamp when they are absent to go to the toilet. He files a request for conciliation, reveals the RTS.
This is a new episode in the toilet break stamping affair which broke out two months ago. According to information from the RTS Investigation Unit, Unia is today filing a request for conciliation before the Conciliation Chamber of the Neuchâtel Labor Court.
In its request, of which RTS obtained a copy, the union attacks the Singer company, which employs around 400 people and which requires its employees to stamp when they go to the toilet.
“This obligation statistically has a greater impact on women. It is therefore incomprehensible that a company which claims to be committed to combating discrimination and which promotes a “responsible company” label on its website, persists in wanting to maintain such a measure. other companies in the sector have already announced that they would spontaneously put an end to it when they realized the problem,” explains Geneva lawyer Céline Moreau, who drafted the conciliation request.
Formal notice
For the union, if women spend more time in the toilet than men, it is “due to a series of factors over which they have no control”. In its request, Unia mentions in particular “dress codes implying a longer time of undressing and dressing”, “the fact of urinating seated and not standing”, “physiological realities requiring more frequent relief” and “cycles menstruation.
According to information from RTS, before going to the industrial tribunal, the union first served notice on the watch company. On November 12, in a letter signed by Me Céline Moreau, Unia asked Singer “to immediately cease the practice of stamping toilet breaks as it constitutes a discriminatory measure against women”.
Unsatisfactory response
The factory responded to this letter on November 30. She first clarified that she did not share the union’s “reading of the situation”. But she added that regardless of the formal notice, she intended to “organize an internal consultation”, a process which “could be completed by the end of February 2025”.
In summary, Singer therefore asked Unia to review the situation within two months. An unsatisfactory response for the union. “Through this procedure before the industrial tribunal, Unia is sending a clear message, namely that federal law prohibits all forms of discrimination at work against women,” specifies Me Céline Moreau.
At this point, there are two possibilities. Either Singer puts an end to its practice of stamping bathroom breaks and the conciliation is successful, or the company refuses and the Industrial Court will then have to decide the dispute.
Fabiano Citroni, RTS Investigation Department
