Day 121 - 04 May 95 - Page 10
1 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I am sorry, you must stop there because we do
2 not know yet that there had been any complaints about it.
3 By all means ask if there were a significant number of
4 complaints because if, at the end of the day, it turned out
5 it was very rare, I can imagine there might be no
6 complaints about it, or very few. If, at the end of the
7 day, there appears to be evidence that it happened quite
8 often, that would be another matter obviously.
9
10 What I suggest you put to him, if there were a significant
11 number of complaints about being sent home when they turned
12 up for work to earn some money, would Mr. Nicholson expect
13 that that would get through to him or should it have got
14 through to him?
15
16 MR. MORRIS: Yes. (To the witness): What is your view on that?
17 A. Well, my answer would be, if it was a trend that was
18 developing to an unacceptable level, I would expect the
19 Field Personnel Officer for that region to detect it and,
20 perhaps, bring it to my attention or deal with it. What it
21 would suggest, if it was happening regularly, is that
22 someone in that restaurant was not scheduling correctly and
23 retraining may be necessary. But I would anticipate that
24 the Operational supervisory staff would pick that up very,
25 very quickly.
26
27 Q. So, it is something which you do not want to see happening
28 then, managers sending people home?
29 A. You are right. It is something I would prefer not to
30 see happening, but I realise there will be times when it
31 does.
32
33 Q. It is bad practice, it indicates bad practice?
34 A. Not necessarily.
35
36 Q. You have said it indicates -----
37 A. It indicates -- to me it probably indicates that they
38 have not reached their expected volume.
39
40 MR. JUSTICE BELL: If it happens to an employee ---
41 A. It is unacceptable; I do not like it.
42
43 Q. -- may be twice a year or something, that may be passed off
44 as bad luck, but if it was happening regularly, then it
45 would be a bit offside, would it not?
46 A. That is right. It means that someone is either
47 over-anticipating their projected volumes or is
48 over-scheduling.
49
50 Q. Yes, and it would be unfair on the employee to be treated
51 that way?
52 A. Most unfair, yes, and I would expect that supervisory
53 staff would pick that up very, very quickly and deal with
54 it, because it would lead to unrest and unhappiness amongst
55 the crew.
56
57 MR. MORRIS: If crew members are working 50 hours a week, that
58 is something that is against Company policy, is it not?
59 A. Absolutely, but those figures indicate it is extremely
60 unlikely that anybody is working 50 hours a week. You have
