Day 209 - 25 Jan 96 - Page 37


     
     1        Store Manager that when checking the salad produce
     2        I frequently found incorrectly dated produce which was
     3        wrongly stored.  The causes of this incorrect dating and
     4        storing were not investigated and, to my knowledge, bad
     5        practices still continue.  Buns past the 'use by' date were
     6        often redated and claimed to be 'freezer buns', meaning the
     7        'use by' date can be ignored.
     8
     9        "Out-of-date produce was used mainly when there was no
    10        fresh produce available, but occasionally just to improve
    11        the store's food cost analysis.  I would estimate that this
    12        practice occurred at least once a weeks."
    13
    14        Questions 3 and 4: "Why was fresh produce not available?
    15        Whose responsibility was it for obtaining fresh produce?"
    16        Answer: "Fresh produce was not available because of
    17        mistakes in ordering.  This can be attributed partly to the
    18        fact that ordering is done by whoever is running the shift
    19        on the day an order is required.  With several Managers
    20        ordering under pressure from lack of staff, errors
    21        inevitably occur."
    22
    23        Question 5:  "On how many occasions were you responsible
    24        for using incorrectly wired grills?"  Answer:  "The grills
    25        have been in a dangerous condition for at least a year.
    26        The problem with the grills is not merely incorrect wiring,
    27        but the RCD system installed over a year ago.  This system
    28        cuts the power to the grills if there is too great a
    29        surge.  However, due to a mistake in the installation of
    30        the system, the grills regularly 'trip out' during busy
    31        periods.
    32
    33        I have been left with no option, as have other Managers,
    34        but to take out the safety circuit in order to keep
    35        producing food.  This situation arose on one of my shifts
    36        about once a fortnight".
    37
    38        Question 6:  "How many staff did you usually require to
    39        adequately cover a shift that you were responsible for?"
    40        "Please refer to answer of question 1".
    41
    42        Question 7:  "On how many occasions did you find that your
    43        shift was inadequately covered?"  Answer:  "Approximately
    44        one in every three of my shifts was inadequately staffed".
    45        Question 8:  "Did you bring these problems to the attention
    46        of your immediate boss?"  Answer:  "The subject was often
    47        brought up in Managers' meetings but little action was
    48        taken as there was always pressure to reduce the labour
    49        percentage".
    50        A.  It was always -- the pressure on labour tended to be on 
    51        nights, you know, because the daytime you could almost 
    52        guarantee you were going to have a busy lunch time, but 
    53        nights could be very variable.  So, you know, nights tended
    54        to be -- you would have large rushes and you just could not
    55        cope with them.
    56
    57   Q.   Question 9:  "What attempts were made to improve staffing,
    58        food orders and the grills?"  Answer:  "Understaffing was
    59        resolved with rehiring but with the second highest turnover
    60        of staff in the Midlands and southwest region (over 100 per

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