Day 195 - 04 Dec 95 - Page 06


     
     1        which Paul Jackson belonged.  I rather think that Gibney
     2        was referring to this organisation tongue in cheek.
     3        However, the basic import of what he was saying was quite
     4        clear; Jackson was dismissed because he was seen to be
     5        organising the workers against the management.
     6
     7        On one occasion I was talking to a few crew members while
     8        I was on duty.  I said that I was thinking of joining a
     9        union.  I , in fact, knew that I could not join a union but
    10        I said this just in order to see what the response of my
    11        fellow crew members would be.  Somehow it then got back to
    12        management in the store and the First Assistant Manager,
    13        Trudie Jones (now First Assistant Manager at the Norwich
    14        store), came and said to me and a group of fellow crew
    15        members who were standing around together:  'Who was
    16        talking about unions yesterday?  We don't want anyone
    17        talking about unions in this place'.  With that she walked
    18        away.
    19
    20        I also recollect that on one occasion I asked another of
    21        the Floor Managers, Steve Harney, why it was that people at
    22        McDonalds could not join trade unions.  Steve Harney
    23        replied that this was because people at McDonald's 'had
    24        flexible skills'.  By this he meant that they were required
    25        to work on any particular duties that management dictated.
    26        This was a typical management response to the issue.  Most
    27        people were not convinced by the argument and they realised
    28        that it was basically nonsense.
    29
    30        It was not uncommon for Trudy Jones to be so unpleasant
    31        that she had people in tears, particularly newcomers.  When
    32        McDonald's first opened a store at Clacton, an event which
    33        occurred whilst I was working in Colchester, one of the
    34        people whom McDonald's were hiring to work at the new
    35        Clacton store was sent for preliminary training to my
    36        store.
    37
    38        Trudie Jones was given the job of training him.  She had
    39        him on the grills for several hours trying to learn how to
    40        cook the burgers.  During one such shift at a busy lunch
    41        time he could not get the technique correct and eventually
    42        broke down in tears just from the sheer pressure of being
    43        continually harangued and shouted at.  I cannot remember
    44        the name of this person but I think that he still works at
    45        Clacton.  This type of incident happened more regularly
    46        with the female staff.  Trudie Jones was renowned for
    47        putting people under excessive pressure all in the name of
    48         'good training'.
    49
    50        While I was working at the store in Colchester, I was not 
    51        on the phone at home.  Often I was required to work long 
    52        after my shift was meant to finish, since I was generally 
    53        working on the 'close' shift.  Regularly, I would not
    54        finish until 3.00 to 4 a.m. or even 6.00 to 7 a.m..  I told
    55        management repeatedly that I did not like having to do this
    56        because my wife would be on her own all night, not knowing
    57        where I was because she could not be contacted by
    58        telephone".
    59
    60        Sorry, you said "management" in a number of places.  Can

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