Day 209 - 25 Jan 96 - Page 13


     
     1        where you had a couple of days off, but most of the time we
     2        were all doing six days on and one day off, six days on and
     3        one day off; and we would normally be doing 12 hour
     4        shifts.  This was in 1990, must have been 1990 and 1991,
     5        when it was very, very busy, so we were very short of
     6        people.
     7
     8        So there was me and a chap called Matt Williams, who we
     9        used to, probably I would say consistently, do 60 or 70
    10        hours a week, because we used to do 12 hour shifts.  I used
    11        to do four hours on the front.  We used to start at 12.00
    12        and I used to do four hours on the front and he would do
    13        four hours on the back, and then at 4 o'clock we would swap
    14        over, you know, or vice versa.  We were always shifted
    15        together and we were always on 12 closes over this period,
    16        you know, because we were ------
    17
    18   Q.   When you say 12 o'clock until close?
    19        A.  Yes, we were the two people as well who could cook
    20        burgers fast in busy periods.  They were called -- you were
    21        called a "grill king".  I was never a grill king, but Matt
    22        Williams was a grill king.  When the store had just platens
    23        where you would snap the meat, where you laid it and then
    24        you had to turn it manually yourself, it was quite a
    25        complex job and it was very busy, doing them 12 of them in
    26        a straight line.  So, you know, we were always scheduled
    27        those same shifts so they could, you know, we could go on
    28        grill if we were needed to.
    29
    30   MR. MORRIS:  Thank you.  Clock cards, reading again from the
    31        statement:  "I was witness and aware that Managers
    32        sometimes altered people's clock cards' reports without
    33        their knowledge or consent, sometimes to punish them for
    34        forgetting to clock out for their 45 minute break by
    35        clocking an hour out instead".
    36        A.  I have seen a couple of Managers doing it, and I know
    37        the Store Manager, one of the store Managers was aware that
    38        it went on, and it was treated as a discipline thing.  You
    39        know, if people were clocked out for an hour they would not
    40        forget to clock out the day after, but they were never told
    41        that they were clocked out for an hour.  They might not
    42        have had a break.  That was the thing, that this was often
    43        done at the end of the night on the adjustment audit
    44        report, and they, you know, a Manager might leave a note,
    45        but it was very rare to leave a note because it was a very
    46        busy store.
    47
    48        You know, people did not go at the end of their shift and
    49        check the clock cards report to see if everybody had a
    50        break or not.  They used to try and get the change over 
    51        done and get out as quick as they could, and they did not 
    52         -- people did not check the clock cards and, at the end of 
    53        the night, people would look at the adjustments because you
    54        had to complete the clock card file before you could close
    55        down the system.  So, you know, if they were feeling
    56        particularly vindictive, they could go down and everybody
    57        who had not had a break, they would give them an hour off.
    58        It seemed to be just a personal thing, what you were
    59        feeling like at the time; whether they felt in a punitive
    60        mood or whether they felt, you know, quite lenient.

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