Day 209 - 25 Jan 96 - Page 15
1
2 Q. Yes.
3 A. Sorry, have we not got to that stage yet -- that was --
4 what I am saying there is that on a Saturday morning you
5 would have an awful lot of people starting at 10 o'clock
6 and 11 o'clock.
7
8 Q. Yes. I think you have anticipated where we have got to.
9 Read on for a bit.
10
11 MR. MORRIS: Yes. "On many occasions employees worked more than
12 six hours without a rest. Drinks breaks were given when
13 possible, but due to the pressure of work employees would
14 only get a minute or two to have their drink before they
15 had to get back to work. They were never able to sit in
16 the crew room and relax for such breaks, but were expected
17 to stand in the office.
18
19 "For example, it was common practice every Saturday for
20 most people who started at 10.00, 10.30 to be pressurised
21 into going on their breaks almost immediately, sometimes
22 before they had even clocked in".
23 A. This almost immediately, I think -----
24
25 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Just pause. Can you read the rest of that
26 paragraph first?
27
28 MR. MORRIS: Yes. "When they returned, they would often have to
29 work from about 11.00, 11.30 a.m. to around 6.00 or 7 p.m.
30 without a break during the busiest period of the week.
31 This also happened with employees scheduled to start at
32 11.00 a.m."
33
34 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Just pause there. When you were saying about
35 you could coerce people to go on breaks early and talked
36 about putting them on fries on Saturdays and at the back
37 when they preferred the front and vice versa, was that in
38 relation -----
39 A. That was in relation to that, yes, that is right.
40
41 Q. Thank you.
42
43 MR. MORRIS: "Almost all the Managers, including myself, were
44 party to this abuse as it was essential to get as many
45 breaks out of the way as possible. From noon until early
46 evening it was likely to be extremely busy with very few
47 opportunities to send people on breaks.
48
49 "In my five years at McDonald's, Bath, this situation was
50 never resolved as it was not seen as a problem, but instead
51 good Manager practice".
52
53 The next section is "Performance reviews": "These were
54 supposed to be completed two weeks" -----
55 A. This is wrong by the way.
56
57 Q. OK. Just explain how it is wrong?
58 A. Well, it should be three weeks. I made a mistake
59 there, but the other one, it should be four months. It is
60 supposed to be completed three weeks after commencing
