Day 188 - 15 Nov 95 - Page 72


     
     1
     2             Employees had to ask permission of either the
     3             management or a five star yellow badge (who
     4             themselves went and asked a Manager) in order to
     5             be entitled to take their break.  Sometimes
     6             employees were forced to go on their break very
     7             early on in the shift, often even just half an
     8             hour into that shift.  They also were often told
     9             to go off for their break at the very end of the
    10             shift, sometimes leaving 15 or 30 minutes after
    11             returning from the break before they were due to
    12             go home.
    13
    14             Wherever possible, management tried to spread
    15             rates over the whole day.  Employees had to
    16             clock on and off for breaks.
    17
    18             One had to ask for permission to take a drinks
    19             break.  Sometimes permission was refused even
    20             for people working on the grills and friers.
    21             Permission was refused on the basis that the
    22             store was 'too busy'.  Even when employees got
    23             drinks breaks they were generally hustled and
    24             told to hurry.  I was told by one of the
    25             managers, Irving, that the number of staff that
    26             the store was able to take depended on the
    27             amount of the takings in each till.  The two
    28             were directly related.  Consequently, on
    29             Saturday and Sunday when the store takings were
    30             higher they could take on more staff.
    31
    32             The store was definitely permanently
    33             understaffed.  They rarely had the correct
    34             number of people at each station.  Quite often,
    35             I was deployed to clean the road outside the
    36             store.  Management hated me and made me do this
    37             sort of job just for spite.  I was regularly
    38             sent on 'environment/index.html">litter patrol' and even had to wash the
    39             pavement outside the store.
    40
    41             I also worked in the back room.  I was given no
    42             protective clothing to go in the freezer - coats
    43             were only provided for the environment/index.html">litter patrol.  These
    44             coats were too unhygenic to wear near food
    45             because they were so dirty.  However, the
    46             freezer rooms were regularly kept at a
    47             temperature of minus 20 degrees Centigrade and
    48             therefore I had no choice but to wear a environment/index.html">litter
    49             patrol coat.  I certainly never had any gloves
    50             to wear which made the job very unpleasant. 
    51 
    52             One of the rooms at the back of the store where 
    53             the cleaning utensils and chemicals were kept
    54             absolutely stank and was permanently flooded.
    55             I thought this was extremely unhealthy.
    56             I regularly used to have to shift boxes of
    57             burgers, each of which weighed 20 pounds, two at
    58             a time up flights of stairs.  Occasionally, I
    59             would have to carry three boxes at a time if
    60             management insisted.  Employees of all ages were

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