Day 188 - 15 Nov 95 - Page 64


     
     1
     2             I am a student at North London Polytechnic
     3             studying geography.  I am now in my second year
     4             and worked at McDonald's during my first year
     5             purely out of the need for extra money.
     6
     7             The Seven Sisters McDonald's was literally just
     8             over the road from the Polytechnic and was
     9             therefore the most convenient place to work.
    10             I saw an advertisement in the window and went
    11             in.  The advertisement is permanently on
    12             display.
    13
    14             I started on ú2.19 per hour.  After 6 p.m. in
    15             the evening the rate went up to approximately
    16             ú2.39 per hour.  After 11 p.m. the rate went up
    17             again to approximately ú2.59 per hour.  The
    18             store operated monthly assessments of all
    19             members of staff.  If you got a high assessment
    20             you got a salary rise, but this was entirely at
    21             the Manager's discretion.  An employee had to
    22             work very hard to get a rise.
    23
    24             I never got a single rise in the eight months
    25             that I was there and was also not promoted in
    26             any way.  Promotion was also entirely at the
    27             Manager's discretion.  The sort of people who
    28             are 'successful' in McDonald's terms were the
    29             sort of people who would do literally anything
    30             in order to carry favour with management and
    31             were prepared to take no end of misery for very
    32             small returns.  I would estimate that there were
    33             approximately 20 per cent who were very
    34             'successful employees', 20 per cent who did not
    35             give a damn about McDonald's like myself
    36             - people who were only there because they
    37             needed the money - and the rest was somewhere
    38             between the two.
    39
    40             I first became involved with the Transport and
    41             General Workers Union after being at McDonald's
    42             for about six months.  I do not know why I did
    43             not get involved any sooner - it just had not
    44             occurred to me.  It might have been an
    45             advertisement or a leaflet for the TGWU which
    46             sparked off my first visit.  Philip Pearson, a
    47             TGWU official, told me about the legal minimum
    48             wage - he gave me a leaflet on it; I did not
    49             mention the question of a legal minimum wage to
    50             management - it just did not occur to me to do 
    51             so.  There did not seem any point.  In fact, 
    52             I did not mention any aspect of my contact with 
    53             the TGWU to the management.
    54
    55             I joined the TGWU.  I also got a large number of
    56             leaflets and application forms from Philip
    57             Pearson and started talking to people within the
    58             store.  The people I spoke to were generally
    59             very interested in joining.  I approached some
    60             30 to 40 employees and every single one was

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