Day 195 - 04 Dec 95 - Page 17
1 MS. STEEL: "I don't have any dates and this didn't refer to me
2 because I was not on the telephone so they couldn't ring me
3 to come in. I know it happened to Adrian Brett, Martin and
4 Mandy Dorothy. It also happened to Tracy Milleine" -- it
5 is spelt differently now; I do not know that it matters
6 really -- "Simon Gibney and Steve Harney"?
7 A. Harney.
8
9 Q. "They all told me this had happened to them. The person
10 that would ask them to come in was the Manager on the
11 shift. Sometimes this was Daniel", and the correct name is
12 Rizzardini; is that right?
13 A. That is right. Rizzardini.
14
15 Q. Could you spell that?
16 A. It is D-A-N-I-E-L, the first name, and the surname
17 is R-I-Z-Z-A-R-D-I-N-I.
18
19 Q. "This happened mostly during school holidays". Sorry,
20 Daniel Rizzardini, he was management, was he?
21 A. He was a Second Assistant, I think.
22
23 Q. "The pressure on them was that they wouldn't be promoted or
24 they would have their hours cut.
25
26 3. Pressure to follow prescribed steps. There was a clock
27 in front of you and that was the pressure. I was shouted
28 out by Managers particularly the training squad - this was
29 Annette, Joe and later by me." Can you just explain what
30 is written there?
31 A. Yes, the training squad members were instructed to make
32 sure that the crew members adhere to the timing and to
33 timing strictly. So if you, for example, did not remove
34 the buns on time or did not remove the meat, you know, a
35 few seconds later you were shouted at. And by "me", I am
36 referring when I became a training squad myself, I was
37 under pressure to do that. I was instructed to shout at
38 others myself.
39
40 Q. "You were also insulted by them. They called you stupid
41 and other things. Also you might have to clean the floor
42 more often or to do the trash work if you didn't follow the
43 right steps"?
44 A. It should be "trash-walk", that was the term.
45
46 Q. It should be "trash-walk"?
47 A. Trash-walk there.
48
49 Q. "I saw all this happen. It happened almost every day.
50 4. Smile requirement. This requirement was insisted on for
51 people at the till. There was always a Manager watching.
52 Every time you were seen not smiling you were called to the
53 corner and told to smile. Trudie Jones and Annette did it
54 to others. I saw it. I think they did it to Emma. They
55 mostly did it to young school leavers like Tracy Milleine
56 and Djuna. This happened very often. It was degrading.
57 When I spoke to people they felt badly about it. They were
58 working hard and did not want to smile.
59
60 5. Employee ratio. I heard Steve Harney talking to
