Paddy Lillis – Usdaw General Secretary said: “The menopause is clearly a key workplace issue; it is a health and safety issue and an equalities issue, which affects all women at some stage in their lives. People from non-binary, transgender and intersex communities may also experience menopausal symptoms.
“The number of older women in work is rising all the time, a trend that is set to continue as retirement ages rise and the birth rate falls. Women make up over half of the UK population and there are over three and a half million women of menopausal age in work. That is why we launched our ‘Me, Work and the Menopause’ campaign.
“Given that one-in-three women in the UK are currently going through or have reached the menopause, it is important that trade unions and employers take positive action to tackle the silence that still surrounds it at work and raise awareness of symptoms and rights at work.
“Usdaw has made significant progress in recent years negotiating workplace policies with the employers. We continue to campaign about the menopause to raise awareness, enable more women to feel able to discuss their menopause symptoms and seek better workplace rights. On World Menopause Day, and every day, our workplace reps are helping members with the support, advice and representation they need.”
Notes for editors:
Usdaw (Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers) is one of the fastest growing unions in the TUC and the UK's fifth biggest trade union with around 360,000 members. Most Usdaw members work in the retail sector, but the union also has many members in transport, distribution, food manufacturing, chemical industry and other trades www.usdaw.org.uk
Usdaw’s ‘Me, Work and the Menopause’ campaign: https://www.usdaw.org.uk/campaigns/me-work-and-the-menopause/
For Usdaw press releases visit: http://www.usdaw.org.uk/news and you can follow us on Twitter/X @UsdawUnion