Day 188 - 15 Nov 95 - Page 71


     
     1             would send me back home in a taxi.  I did not
     2             see any reason why I should pay the transport
     3             costs.  Although they initially agreed to this,
     4             I found that once I had been sent there in a
     5             taxi and done my work, they then refused to send
     6             me back in a taxi.  It was only after strenuous
     7             argument with the management on each such
     8             occasion that they agreed to pay for a taxi.
     9
    10             So far as I was aware, nobody was ever sent home
    11             in a taxi from Seven Sisters McDonald's if they
    12             were working late.  At my store, there was a
    13             full staff who used to come on duty overnight to
    14             clean up the store.  This was a fully scheduled
    15             night shift.  Every single employee on this
    16             shift was black without exception.  These people
    17             were paid the after 11 p.m. rates.  Many
    18             employees in the store worked in excess of 39
    19             hours per week in total, mainly because they
    20             needed the money.  There was no increase salary
    21             rate for hours worked in excess of 39.  Nobody
    22             in the store was aware of the legal minimum
    23             wage.  The only information pinned on the crew
    24             notice board was the Office Shops and Railways
    25             Act which people generally found to be
    26             incomprehensible.
    27
    28             People were often called into work on their days
    29             off.  In fact, I even offered to come in on rest
    30             days when I was really short of cash.
    31             Generally, however, there was no pressure to
    32             work on your rest day.  If people had refused,
    33             there would have been no adverse consequences.
    34             During breaks all employees were supposed to get
    35             McDonald's food.  When I first arrived there, we
    36             were allowed two hamburgers, a portion of chips,
    37             a pie and a drink.  After three months this was
    38             cut down to one burger instead of two (with all
    39             the rest of the trimmings).  This was another
    40             thing which spurred me on to form a union.  I
    41             was angered by the way McDonald's made
    42             unilateral changes to the employment contract.
    43
    44             If employees worked under nine hours they got
    45             one break; over nine hours they got two breaks.
    46             If they worked over four hours but less than
    47             nine hours they got one 45 minute break.  If
    48             they worked in excess of nine hours they got an
    49             extra 45 minutes.  However, McDonald's always
    50             scheduled shifts from 2 until 11 wherever 
    51             possible, i.e. not more than nine hours so that 
    52             they did not have to give a second break. 
    53
    54             People regularly worked more than eight hours in
    55             each shift contrary to what was stated in the
    56             Crew Handbook.  Furthermore, the number of
    57             breaks you were entitled to was calculated by
    58             reference to the amount of time that you were
    59             scheduled to work and not to the amount of time
    60             that you actually did work.

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