Day 209 - 25 Jan 96 - Page 34
1 safely."
2
3 Please stop me if there is anything that is incorrect or
4 needs clarification.
5
6 "Short staffing occurred frequently, not because of
7 mistakes by the scheduling Manager, but because of pressure
8 put on him by the store Supervisor to reduce the labour
9 percentage from the standard 15 per cent to 13 per cent.
10 This persistent pressure means the scheduling Manager
11 invariably cuts back on staff levels to the bare minimum.
12 More importantly, he under-estimates the predicted volume
13 of business for the week ahead to avoid days of high labour
14 percentage."
15 A. Could I just say there that the pressure he put on the
16 Manager who is doing the schedule was, he would never be --
17 or he might be criticised occasionally if labour was very
18 low -- but he would not normally be criticised if labour
19 was running under, but if labour was running over he would
20 always get grief from the Supervisor. So that, in turn,
21 you know, it made him want to schedule under, because he
22 did not want to get reprimanded all the time.
23
24 Q. Continuing to read: "I am personally liable when shift
25 running Manager for all incidents that may occur within the
26 store concerning both customers and staff. When running
27 shifts, I am required by McDonald's to complete a tour of
28 the store every half an hour to ensure there no problems.
29 This is impossible when very few staff are working. On 9th
30 November, there were three employees scheduled to my shift,
31 forcing me to cook and serve in order to keep up with the
32 volume of business."
33 A. Can I explain there? Like we discussed before, I put
34 that very badly. I never worked that shift. I walked out.
35 That was the day I walked out.
36
37 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Just pause a moment.
38 A. Because I read here, it makes it sounds as though they
39 were forcing me to cook. It would have forced me to do
40 what I normally did, which was stay on wrap all night and
41 not get a break -- wrap being wrap and call.
42
43 Also, can I clarify that on 9th November there were three
44 employees scheduled for my shift; there were actually four,
45 I think, and one of them, when I came in the store, one of
46 them, the girl who was on wrap and call, a girl called Joe
47 Stapeley, told me that somebody had rung up sick.
48
49 MR. MORRIS: Sorry?
50 A. Joe Stapeley her name was. She was on wrap and call.
51
52 Q. Just speak a little more slowly.
53 A. There was no, there was no -----
54
55 Q. A bit more slowly.
56 A. There was no Manager downstairs at the time. I came in
57 the store -----
58
59 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Just pause a moment.
60 A. OK. I think -----
