Day 153 - 12 Jul 95 - Page 25


     
     1
     2   MR. MORRIS:   In paragraph 23 of your statement, you say in the
     3        end of the third line down:  "It is also true to say that
     4        the store manager is under some pressure to control costs
     5        in order to keep up profitability."  Do you agree with
     6        that?
     7        A.  Some pressure, yes.
     8
     9   Q.   Yes.  "However, as with the other statements" -- that is
    10        pressure from above?
    11        A.  Just pressure.
    12
    13   Q.   Sorry, some pressure?
    14        A.  Pressure that you probably put on yourself, as well,
    15        because you want to run a successful business.
    16
    17   Q.   So from above and from yourself?
    18        A.  Sure.
    19
    20   Q.   "However, as with the other statements, Simon's allegations
    21        exaggerate the importance of this and also the methods used
    22        to control the cost of labour."  Would you agree with that?
    23        A.  I would agree with what I have written there, yes.
    24
    25   Q.   Then two-thirds of the way down, it says:  "The situation
    26        suggested by Simon that people were sent home if the store
    27        was not as busy as envisaged was relatively rare."  Is that
    28        relatively rare compared to what -- presumably, you agree
    29        with that?
    30        A.  Yes.
    31
    32   Q.   Relatively rare compared to what?
    33        A.  Well, it was relatively rare as in -- would you like me
    34        to put a specific?  I do not know, once a week, once a
    35        month.
    36
    37   Q.   So it may have happened one a week or once a month?
    38        A.  Yes, it may have done.
    39
    40   Q.   Right.
    41        A.  That would have been voluntarily.  Nobody was sent home
    42        as a matter of course.
    43
    44   Q.   Mr. Gibney was suggesting that you sent people home.  He
    45        said: "If not enough people obliged when they were asked,
    46        reasons would be given for sending people home."  So what
    47        was relatively rare?
    48        A.  No, that is not how I recall it at all.
    49
    50   Q.   In paragraph 24, you said:  "It was probably fair to say 
    51        that staff who were more flexible about the hours they 
    52        worked were given more hours."  Is that correct; do you 
    53        agree with that statement?
    54        A.  Yes.  Just by the nature of -- if somebody was fully
    55        flexible and could work any time, then it was easier to
    56        slot them into the required hours, whereas if somebody was
    57        fixed, say, they could only work from 12 to 4 on a Monday,
    58        then obviously they would not get as many hours somebody
    59        who was fully flexed and willing to work at any time during
    60        the week.

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