Day 188 - 15 Nov 95 - Page 70


     
     1             the most terrible burn down the inside of her
     2             arm.  The burn looked absolutely horrific,
     3             partly because she was black and therefore the
     4             raw pink colour of the burn looked all the more
     5             unpleasant.  She was one of the people
     6             I approached with regard to joining the union.
     7             I explained to her at the time that if she was a
     8             member of the union, the union could have made
     9             representations on her behalf to ensure that she
    10             was properly treated after the accident occurred
    11             and also to ensure that such accidents did not
    12             occur in the future.  The girl was very
    13             interested in joining the union.
    14
    15             I had one very bad burn from a chip unit.  I was
    16             not being particularly careless at all.  The
    17             burn was on the underside of my wrist and took a
    18             long time to heal.  The scar still has not
    19             gone.  The First Aid in the store was totally
    20             inadequate.  They did not keep any burn spray on
    21             the premises.  They just told me to put the burn
    22             under running water.  I was told I was stupid
    23             for having been burnt.  I went upstairs
    24             immediately after burning myself and one of my
    25             fellow crew members put a bandage on it for me.
    26             I did not see a doctor.
    27
    28             Approximately 85 per cent of the employees in
    29             the store were under 21 and approximately 25 per
    30             cent were under 18.  I recollect that one girl
    31             was sent home generally at ten o'clock and was
    32             not allowed to work past that time.  She was the
    33             only one who was sent home and I therefore think
    34             that she was under 16.
    35
    36             Most of the people who worked there, in fact the
    37             overwhelming majority, were students.  There
    38             were only one or two people working there whom I
    39             would describe as 'career people'.  There were a
    40             high proportion of Chinese working there,
    41             approximately 15 per cent, and two out of the
    42             eight managers were Chinese.  The ethnic
    43             breakdown of the remainder was approximately as
    44             follows:  1. Indians (Mauritian) 15 per cent;
    45             2. Greeks 30 per cent; 3. Whites 15 per cent;
    46             4. Blacks 25 per cent.
    47
    48             I worked an average of approximately 20 hours
    49             per week.  I was generally scheduled to work
    50             between 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. on Sunday and Monday 
    51             night, 6 p.m. to 11 p.m. on one weekday and all 
    52             day Saturday, 1 p.m. to 11 p.m.  I never usually 
    53             had to work much more than 15 or 20 minutes
    54             beyond my scheduled finishing time.
    55
    56             On a few occasions I was sent to work in other
    57             stores when there was short staffed.  They
    58             generally sent me by taxi.  I always made it
    59             quite clear before I went that I was only
    60             prepared to be sent to another store if they

Prev Next Index