Day 197 - 07 Dec 95 - Page 60


     
       1      mean 39 hours a week, in January and February you are
       2      scheduling for 10, 15, 20 hours a week; they have families
       3      to feed possibly, they have got rent to pay, that was
       4      always the problem.  That is the reality of the company;
       5      not what you read in the little books.
       6
       7 Q.   I do not think I am fully understanding what you are
       8      saying.
       9      A.  Well, you are trying to say that if I have long
      10      standing, full-time crew members and I have got loads of
      11      crew and they are well-trained, they are looked after,
      12      then everything is a nice rosy picture.  Unfortunately,
      13      the other end of the coin is that when times are quiet and
      14      there are not the people there, the very people that you
      15      are trying to suggest that I should be hiring are the ones
      16      that tend to leave because they cannot have the hours and
      17      the conditions they have been promised.
      18
      19 Q.   Are you saying this leads to an inevitable pressure to cut
      20      corners in order to achieve your PAC targets?
      21      A.  There is always pressure.  As you said, you can see it
      22      all the way through here.  Even when comments such as, "An
      23      excellent performance, but you can still save a per cent
      24      here and a per cent there." The pressure never, ever
      25      stopped the whole time I worked for the Company.
      26      Constantly, if you did well in one area it would be, "Well
      27      done, but what about?"  It never stopped.  It is deeply
      28      ingrained in the whole company, the whole way it works.
      29
      30 Q.   If you were right, Mr. Coton, every Manager in the country
      31      at McDonald's would be driven to cut the same corners that
      32      you cut, would they not?
      33      A.  I would be very surprised if it does not happen in
      34      other stores.  I was only working in one store.  I can
      35      only comment on my particular situation, but it does seem
      36      that the only people that are saying wonderful things are
      37      the ones that are still working and the ones that have
      38      left are the ones that are saying something has gone
      39      wrong.  So there must be some truth in it there, surely.
      40
      41 Q.   Can you look at page 49?  This is your annual review, 10th
      42      November 1989.  Second paragraph, unindented paragraph,
      43      under "Crew Hiring and Turnover".  "Your turnover year to
      44      date stands at 273 per cent which is about 80 per cent
      45      above what is ideal.  You must look more closely at the
      46      reasons for this.  I suggest you attend some crew
      47      orientations, speak to the crew on probationary reviews
      48      and conduct some exit interviews." Do you so that?
      49      A.  I do, yes.
      50
      51 Q.   Your problem, Mr. Coton was, was it not, that you simply
      52      could not keep people?  They did not like working at your 
      53      restaurant.  You were not a good Manager?
      54      A.  I dispute that fact.  All my PRs say I did a good
      55      job.  Where does it say I am not a good Manager?  Did you
      56      ever work under me?  Is there anyone here that is saying
      57      that?
      58
      59 Q.   Shall I leap ahead in time?  Can I ask you to turn to the
      60      very last page of this file?  Keep your finger, please, at

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