Day 302 - 18 Nov 96 - Page 38


     
     1        went up about five pence in a three year period.  Five
     2        pence an hour would be something like a pound extra or two
     3        pounds extra a week.
     4
     5        So the decency threshold, which Europe was setting to keep
     6        up presumably with inflation, was going higher faster than
     7        McDonald's wage rises in the same period, which exactly
     8        again justifies what it says in the fact sheet about the
     9        lack of minimum wage protection, meaning that the company
    10        could pay what it liked or what it could get away with.
    11
    12        He says that £221.50 a week was calculated gross weekly
    13        earnings.  It was the question you asked before, page 13,
    14        line 14.  Based on gross weekly earnings for full time
    15        employees in this country on adult rates working a 37.7
    16        hour week.
    17
    18   MR. JUSTICE BELL:   37.7?
    19
    20   MR. MORRIS:   Yes.  So if you multiplied McDonald's wage rates,
    21        I think for example, I think we had, I might be wrong, it
    22        was the Heathrow actual average wage for the Heathrow store
    23        was calculated each week, and it was something like £3.43
    24        or something, £3.35, £3.45, that kind of level.  That is
    25        entirely from memory.  I have not had a chance to look at
    26        the papers.
    27
    28        So if you multiplied that as a typical average by 37.7,
    29        I think that was for 1994 as well, that was Heathrow, you
    30        would get what effectively the average wage at McDonald's
    31        would be.  Obviously there would be people below and people
    32        above.  And that would not come out to more than £140,
    33        £150, I do not think.  All these figures are based upon
    34        European Community and the government's own new earnings
    35        survey figures.  He then pointed out that following the
    36        Wage Council's abolition, Britain and Ireland are the only
    37        two EU member states without cross industry minimum wage
    38        systems.
    39
    40        He concludes on page 14 - I am not sure if this is exactly
    41        a misprint or not, I don't think it is - it says, because
    42        of the overall low hour policy - I think that must include
    43        part-time work as well - at the company, low take-home pay
    44        is an inbuilt feature of employment in the company.
    45
    46        Then he says, when labour targets are translated into
    47        individual manager's performance targets - now, this is an
    48        important part of the systematic management culture - and
    49        form a key part of their individual appraisals - this is on
    50        page 14, line 23 - then achieving them may of necessity
    51        engender a disciplinarian, if not authoritarian management
    52        style, dependent for its success on a highly flexible
    53        workforce.  And then he said that is borne out by the
    54        employees' witness statements.
    55
    56        I think he has got the key here to the -- this is the
    57        centre of McDonald's employment conditions here, we are
    58        talking about trying to keep wage costs down, low pay, or
    59        low pay is another aspect.  Trying to keep wage costs down
    60        obviously means low pay, but also means disciplinarian

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