Day 179 - 30 Oct 95 - Page 07
1 Section 5: "On two occasions at the Colchester store, the
2 drains were blocked due to shortening (cooking fat similar
3 to lard) being poured down the sinks where no waste
4 containers were available.
5
6 "The result was that sewage would rise through the drains
7 in the kitchen area to a depth in excess of two inches.
8 The Store Manager would not close the store because he
9 would be reprimanded by his superiors for a high labour
10 rate. The sewage was just mopped out of the customers'
11 view for perhaps two hours while Dynorod unblocked the
12 drains."
13
14 Is that all correct and true?
15 A. Yes, it is.
16
17 Q. Section 6: "In my entire time with McDonald's, I did not
18 receive any overtime payments, neither did I ever witness
19 them being paid to anyone else. If any hourly paid worker
20 asked about overtime pay, he or she was told by the
21 management that 'you do not have to pay overtime pay by law
22 any more'. This was accepted as the truth."
23
24 Section 7: "Burns were commonplace at McDonald's, and
25 occasionally they were serious enough to warrant hospital
26 attention. An example is as follows:
27
28 "Vicky Golding was a part-time staff member whilst studying
29 at the Colchester Institute. She was working on a grill
30 during a busy lunch time period and someone was mopping the
31 floor by her feet. This caused her to slip forwards
32 towards the grill, both forearms landing firmly on the
33 grill's 350c metal grill surface.
34
35 "She was taken to hospital in a taxi and treated for burns
36 on both forearms roughly 7 inches by 2 inches.
37
38 "Vicky was due to go on a foreign holiday in the next few
39 days and was told by the hospital that she should stay out
40 of the sun. She discussed some sort of compensation with
41 the Store Manager, Ray Coton, but was persuaded against
42 this by the payment of some form of bonus as'hush money'."
43
44 Section 8: "The period of time spent cleaning up after the
45 store had closed was called a close. If you were scheduled
46 for a close, you would expect this to take around 1.5
47 hours. If the store had a visit from anyone above Area
48 Supervisor level, there was what was called an all night
49 close. Without any notice, anyone who was scheduled for a
50 close would have to work all night. There was no choice in
51 the matter, even if you were on a 12 midday to close shift,
52 which meant you could do a shift of 18 hours and then be
53 expected back at work five hours later.
54
55 "This was obviously inconvenient to the majority of staff,
56 but if you complained you would be threatened with a cut in
57 hours or disciplinary action."
58
59 Is that all true and correct?
60 A. Yes, it is.
