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
