Schiphol Airport security now need permission to use a toilet; "Unreasonable" says union

Security guards working or G4S Aviation and I-Sec at Schiphol Airport have been banned from using the bathroom without permission from a supervisor. The “toilet restriction” has angered the union representing those workers, and Schiphol said the airport was not involved in the decision.

The security staff is now expected to only go to the bathroom during their designated breaks. If they can’t hold it in and feel the urgent need to use a toilet, they have to report to an I-Sec “pee guard” who will log the duration of a bathroom visit, according to and FNV Security union statement. I-Sec employees using the bathroom for too long could be sanctioned. G4S guards are to report to a superior if they need to use the toilet, the union said.

"These are irrational demands and privacy infringement. If a worker needs to go, then he or she should go,” said Tanja Schrijver of FNV. "Checking how long someone uses the toilet is a severe privacy infringement.”

FNV is advising its rank-and-file to ignore the toilet restrictions. The union said it is incomprehensible the Schiphol allows this practices to take place in the airport, and expects it to put an end to the restriction directly. 

"Security companies have agreed that they will always use sufficient security and take into account pee breaks,” a Schiphol spokesperson told Metro. The airport itself does not track bathroom breaks, the spokesperson noted.