Day 005 - 04 Jul 94 - Page 61
1 sure of the exact number.
2 Q. There is no guaranteed hours, is there, in McDonald's?
A. Are there guaranteed hours? There is a coterie of
3 people within most restaurants who form the nucleus of the
store's labour force. Although there is not a guarantee
4 you will have X, in practice, there is a certain number of
hours worked per week which are most of them every period.
5
Q. What is the average number of hours worked by your
6 employees approximately?
A. In the UK?
7
Q. In the UK?
8 A. 25.
9 Q. So the average wage is going to be something like?
A. 25 ----
10
Q. £80.00 a week?
11 A. Something like that, yes.
12 Q. Would you consider that low pay?
A. I consider if they have worked 25 hours a week and the
13 agreed pay rate is £3.00 an hour or £3.20 an hour, I have
fulfilled my obligation. In terms of whether it is low or
14 not -- low compared to what? If it to other retailers on
the high street, I say absolutely not; it is comparable.
15
Q. Would you say it is low compared to your wage?
16 A. I would say it is lower than mine. I have been in
McDonald's for 30 years and carry responsibility for the
17 entire company. I do not work two hours or three hours on
a Saturday afternoon in one restaurant. I have quite
18 different responsibilities.
19 Q. Would you say it is was low compared to other industries?
A. But I think our pay rates, I can comment on the
20 catering industry, our pay rates in terms of the catering
industry are at the leading edge for the sort of person we
21 are hiring, basically school-leavers, basically without a
huge amount of qualifications yet, we are at the leading
22 edge.
23 Q. So it is low compared to people who have qualifications,
for example?
24 A. Well, it is lower than a lawyer; it is lower than a
doctor; it is lower than a computer specialist, yes.
25
Q. Apart from other people in the catering industry, is there
26 any branch of industry that you know of that pay lower
wages than that sort of starting rate?
27 A. I am not familiar with what other industries do.
28 Q. So you do not know of any other industries -- I will just
repeat the question -- really that have a lower starting
29 rate?
A. I do not know if anyone has a lower one, I am not
30 sure.
