UNISON North Wales Health branch has invited a range of public service workers and managers to a conference today (Wednesday), to learn about and discuss how to better support female workers going through the menopause.
UNISON has convened this special event to bring together employers, trade union representatives and employees.
One of the world’s leading academic researchers in the area, Dr Claire Hardy of Lancaster University, employment lawyer Bernie Wentworth from Thompsons solicitors, Karen Wright, assistant director of workforce, Velindre University NHS Trust, and representatives of Denbighshire Council’s HR department alongside UNISON Denbighshire Branch will be delivering workshops and talks at the OpTIC Centre, St. Asaph this morning.
Jan Tomlinson, UNISON North Wales Health branch secretary said,
“At some stage every woman will go through the menopause and at such a difficult time in our lives, we need the support of family, friends and our employer.
“We are as valuable as men in the workplace and there is a duty on employers to recognise what women are going through and for reasonable adjustments to working conditions to be made.
“When I was experiencing the menopause, I remember a nurse telling me to ‘just get on with it’ and to think of the money I would save with hot flushes and not having to put the heating on!
“As a society we have to do better than that. Today is about challenging taboos, better educating people about the symptoms and properly supporting women going through the menopause at work.”
Notes for editors
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According to a UNISON Cymru Wales survey of public service workers in March 2018, 70 per cent of respondents said women have NOT achieved equality in the workplace.
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IN 2018, a survey by the Wales TUC found that 88 per cent of women workers who’ve experienced the menopause felt it had an effect on their working lives, while 6 out of 10 had witnessed the issue being treated as a joke in the workplace.
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Today’s conference will take place in the OpTIC Centre, St Asaph from 8.45am-12.30pm
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Panel guests include Gareth Hathway from the Wales TUC; Dr Claire Hardy of Lancaster University; Bernie Wentworth from Thompsons solicitors; Asst. Dir of workforce, Velindre University NHS Trust Karen Wright and representatives of Denbighshire Council’s HR department alongside UNISON Denbighshire Branch
Contact
Alastair Gittins, UNISON press officer on 07816 538397
