Day 150 - 07 Jul 95 - Page 29


     
     1        then I do not think any self-minding individual would
     2        continue to work in that environment if they were being
     3        subjected to that sort of blackmail or those sorts of work
     4        practices, either directly or indirectly.
     5
     6   Q.   Just as a general impression, do you get the impression
     7        that people who are working for McDonald's are absolutely
     8        desperate and there is nothing else that they can do and so
     9        they have to stay with the Company?
    10        A.  I am well aware there are plenty of things for them to
    11        do, plenty of other jobs.  Having just spend a night down
    12        in the West End having a look at the different sorts of
    13        restaurants that are available, it is similar, if not in
    14        numbers, but certainly in the makeup of restaurants in
    15        different towns, there are plenty of opportunities for them
    16        to go and look for a similar type of job.  That is what
    17        I tell my managers -- told my managers at the time and
    18        still do now -- is that it is a competitive market.  If you
    19        do not treat people properly, they are going to go
    20        elsewhere, and they can go elsewhere.
    21
    22   Q.   You have anticipated my question because I was going to ask
    23        you what the consequence for the Company of behaving in the
    24        ways that might be alleged were, but I think you have
    25        answered that.
    26
    27        When the store gets a bit less busy and maybe, this being
    28        an imperfect world, it has not been anticipated that it is
    29        going to be quite so quiet as actually occurs ---
    30        A.  Right.
    31
    32   Q.   -- are people sent home on the basis that they have got a
    33        poor appearance, even if they are perfectly well dressed?
    34        I mean, is it used as some sort of bogus pretext?
    35        A.  No, we would approach it in exactly same way as if
    36        people were being asked to stay on.  The idea of asking for
    37        volunteers, if you like, in my experience, people are quite
    38        happy to finish an hour earlier.  I agree there are
    39        circumstances maybe we do not anticipate a drop in
    40        business, as we do not, perhaps, anticipate a rise in
    41        business, but in those cases it is once again the idea of
    42        you have to work with that person the next day, so if you
    43        start treating them in that respect, then we are going to
    44        be on a sort of losing pitch from day one.
    45
    46   Q.   So are you saying that it does or it does not happen, the
    47        practice of sending people home on the trumped up pretext
    48        that ---
    49        A.  Absolutely not.
    50 
    51   Q.   -- their appearance is not good even if their appearance is 
    52        perfectly good? 
    53        A.  Absolutely not.
    54
    55   Q.   Another side to that, are people kept on regardless of
    56        their appearance if the store is busy and there is a lot of
    57        money to be made?
    58        A.  It is a very short term view if you were to keep people
    59        on purely on that respect.  At the end of the day it sends
    60        a very bad message to the rest of staff.  It sends an

Prev Next Index