Day 302 - 18 Nov 96 - Page 26


     
     1        too long because they need more money coming into their
     2        pocket, and two weeks might be a jolly good compromise
     3        between the two.  You may pay your salaried people, who
     4        have more money and might have some in the bank and so on,
     5        on a monthly basis, but you do not want to do what used to
     6        happen in the old days, especially when everyone was paid
     7        in cash, and give them a pay packet every Friday morning,
     8        or Thursday morning or whatever it is.
     9
    10   MS. STEEL:   There is an additional benefit for the company,
    11        which I think I have read somewhere in some of the
    12        documents for the case, which is the reason why they
    13        brought it in, which was if they do not pay the employees
    14        for two weeks then they have an extra week where the money
    15        is in the bank accruing interest and keeping them afloat.
    16        I think that was when the company started off that was
    17        brought in.
    18
    19   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  There may be an advantage there, as well, but
    20        it works all sorts of ways.  What I am not prepared to
    21        accept at the moment is it is done just so that breaches of
    22        the law will not be uncovered.
    23
    24   MS. STEEL:   I just wanted to say about the argument that was
    25        going on a minute or two ago.
    26
    27   MR. JUSTICE BELL:   Just wait a moment.  (Pause) Yes.  What were
    28        you going to add?
    29
    30   MS. STEEL:   Just about the business about whether or not people
    31        want to work overtime.  I think that generally, perhaps
    32        with the exception of workaholics and maybe a few other
    33        people, people do not really want to work overtime, they do
    34        not want to work long hours, they get very tired.  They
    35        have no time for their home life and social life.  That the
    36        reality is that when you actually ask people who may say
    37        they have asked or wanted overtime hours, extra hours, it
    38        is because they need the money.
    39
    40   MR. JUSTICE BELL:   Well, I thought that sooner or later one of
    41        you would say that 25 percent is surprising, because the
    42        people who are working around 39 hours a week were clearly
    43        doing it as their job, or their principal job, and
    44        therefore you do not get much pay after 39 hours as a crew
    45        member in McDonald's, so you are quite happy, indeed may be
    46        keen, to work more than 39 hours.
    47
    48   MS. STEEL:   The reality is, if they were paid a decent wage in
    49        the first place they would not need to work excessive
    50        hours, and people should not be forced into making a choice
    51        of either having to work excessive hours or not having
    52        enough money to live on.  They should be paid a decent wage
    53        for the basic hours that they do.
    54
    55   MR. JUSTICE BELL:   Yes.  Anyway, all this was led into because
    56        you said full-timers were working over 39 hours a week.
    57
    58   MR. MORRIS:   Yes, 25 percent of them.
    59
    60   MR. JUSTICE BELL:   25 percent of them.

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