Day 192 - 27 Nov 95 - Page 16


     
     1        A.  Yes.
     2
     3   Q.   Then you were doing something like six hours a week.  From
     4        what period did you start doing about six hours a week?
     5        A.  Probably from the beginning of September until June
     6        when I quit, in 1994.
     7
     8   Q.   It might help if you have your statement open in front of
     9        you, your first statement.
    10
    11   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Divider 12.
    12
    13   MR. MORRIS:  In your second paragraph, you talked about various
    14        things: "unjust firings, threats of firings, work hours
    15        cut, cheaper staff hired, verbal and sexual harassment".
    16        What do you mean, "threats of firings"?
    17        A.  What I mean by that is people were afraid of losing
    18        their jobs, depending on what kind of mood management was
    19        in during that day, whether they were going to be treated
    20        fairly or not.  It was a sort of hostile atmosphere to work
    21        in.  People were afraid that, because Cam was a new owner,
    22        that maybe they were not up to par with his system; they
    23        did not know what type of management techniques that he
    24        used.  People were, all in all, just afraid of losing their
    25        jobs.  It was very sort of unstable there, because there
    26        were such a high turnover rate.
    27
    28   Q.   Did you ever have any -- did it ever happen to you, threats
    29        of firings, or anything like that?
    30        A.  No, not really.
    31
    32   Q.   You were Worker of the Month, or something; is that
    33        correct?
    34        A.  Yes.  When Cam first took over the store, I believe he
    35        took it over somewhere between January 1992 and February
    36        1992 -- I do not know the exact date.  But, anyway, I was
    37        made Employee of the Month from March of that year, 1992,
    38        under Cam's management.
    39
    40   Q.   Right.  What do you mean, cheaper staff were hired?
    41        A.  Well, in Ontario, the problems of Ontario, there are
    42        two minimum wages:  one for people that are under the age
    43        of 18, and one for people that are like adults and older;
    44        and, also, bringing in new staff means that their minimum
    45        wage is five cents above minimum wage, whereas people that
    46        had been there for, say, four or five, and some people had
    47        been there since the store had opened -- which would have
    48        been, I guess, 15 years -- are making well above minimum
    49        wage.  Well, not well above minute minimum wage, but a
    50        considerable increase from minimum wage. 
    51 
    52   Q.   What was he doing to -- I mean, it is pretty obvious from 
    53        what you have said, but what was he actually doing?
    54        A.  It seemed as though the older staff were being pushed
    55        out; and when he came in, people were usually getting --
    56        like, day staff was getting the full-time hours, which is
    57        basically six and a half to eight hours a day, five days a
    58        week.  But when he came over, he cut the shifts from eight
    59        hours to six and a half, to five and a half, to four and a
    60        half, to three and a half -- and which you do not get a

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