Day 209 - 25 Jan 96 - Page 12
1 great deal of us did over 40 hours a week at that period.
2
3 Q. Right.
4 A. Does that make sense?
5
6 Q. I think so.
7 A. It was just the explanation I was given at the time.
8
9 Q. Right. But -----
10 A. It meant in one week you could have just one day off
11 and, perhaps, work seven days or something, or work -- you
12 know, and in another week you might have three days off, so
13 you will only be working four days. Do you see? So, they
14 were saying -- well, this Manager was saying to me that
15 that is why they do not pay overtime because over the weeks
16 it balances out, but it did not.
17
18 Q. Right. Thank you. Then you did go on to say
19 "meaning" -----
20
21 MR. JUSTICE BELL: When you say "it balances out", you mean so
22 that you are not doing more than 30, an average of 39 hours
23 a week?
24 A. Yes. They said that it would, you know, if you break
25 it down over the year, you would not be doing excessive
26 hours. I just remember as a crew member that being given
27 to me as my answer when I asked on a close one night.
28
29 Q. Can you remember who it was who told you that?
30 A. Mr. Sean Richards. He was the Manager of the close
31 when I asked. I was at college at the time.
32
33 MR. MORRIS: I will continue reading from the statement:
34 "Meaning that one week you could work six days and the
35 next only four days, so no overtime was needed. This
36 simply did not apply during busy periods." Are you saying
37 that what he was saying did not -----
38
39 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Why not ask him what he was saying?
40
41 MR. MORRIS: Yes, I am. I do not understand what that last
42 sentence means.
43
44 MR. JUSTICE BELL: No, let -----
45
46 THE WITNESS: By "busy periods" -------
47
48 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I am not criticising you for asking about it,
49 but I would rather he told me than you did.
50
51 MR. MORRIS (To the witness) What does that mean?
52 A. I was just going to say, well, "busy periods", for a
53 start, is over a long period, and what that basically is,
54 you know, what I have already said, that this explanation
55 did not fit because people were still doing more than 39
56 hours every week, you know. There were a few of us who
57 were doing -- when I was at college part-time, we were
58 doing, in the summers we were doing an awful lot of hours,
59 you know, every week for eight weeks in a row, and that is,
60 you know, without -- you might have one period in that
