5 - Menopause and Trade Unions

Summary

Introduction

This chapter discusses menopause issues in UK workplaces via a lens of trade unions and employment relations. There are four main reasons why a focus on trade unions is important to considerations of menopause in workplaces. The first is the historical role that trade unions have played in the emergent literature on menopause in the workplace. One of the earliest, most comprehensive and still relevant publications (Paul, 2003) was written on behalf of the British Trades Union Congress (TUC). Based on empirical data and providing comprehensive guidance, Paul's publication forms a foundation for much of the subsequent discussions in the field even though very little of this latter discourse was focused on trade unions. Although the early lead in the literature on menopause in work was not pursued by the TUC, they have more recently provided online resources on menopause at work and guidance on supporting women through menopause at work (see www.tuc.org.uk/menopa use-work).

Moreover, the TUC and its member unions play an important role in the provision of practical advice and the development of menopause policies and guidelines. This is a second justification for the focus on trade unions. Particularly noteworthy is the Wales TUC Cymru (2017) toolkit for trade unionists on menopause in the workplace, which is not only based on a solid evidence base but also provides clear guidance and comprehensive considerations on how to best introduce a menopause policy or guidelines in a workplace, including deciding which of the two may be most appropriate. Although usually far less comprehensive, many individual trade unions have provided similar advice and guidance, including most of the trade unions represented in the research discussed in this chapter: GMB, Britain's General Union (GMB, nd), National Association of Schoolmasters/Union of Women Teachers (NASUWT, 2021), National Education Union (NEU, 2019), Prospect (2018), Royal College of Nursing (RNC, 2020), University and College Union (UCU, 2018), UNISON, the public sector union (2021) and Unite the Union (Unite, 2012).