Day 175 - 18 Oct 95 - Page 36
1 apologise to staff and say he should not have promised it;
2 it was his fault.
3
4 If we were training someone, they would be counted as part
5 of the staffing complement for the evening even if they
6 were not going to be able to fulfil a role in a busy time.
7 So, one of the people who were supposed to be doing an
8 ordinary job was actually there to learn; they might have
9 never worked in a store before.
10
11 Q. Just one point of clarification in the next paragraph,
12 which is on page 5, faxed page 5 -- I have not got the
13 other numbers at the bottom; the one at the top of page 5
14 -- you talk about delivery drivers, telling you they had
15 sold their union rights away. Can you just say, what do
16 you mean, "delivery drivers"?
17 A. The drivers who bought the goods to the store, the
18 food, or the dry goods, when we off-load with them we got
19 to know them because it tended to be the same people. When
20 we were talking about unionising in the store, we asked
21 them about it, whether they ----
22
23 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I think I have to stop you there because you
24 know what the rule is. You can say anything which was said
25 to you about unions, subject to any objection by a Manager,
26 but what I cannot have you saying is what other members of
27 crew said to you about their experiences, or drivers said
28 to you about their experiences, for that matter. In fact,
29 although I did not stop you reading it, unless there is
30 some special point I have missed, the paragraph at the top
31 of page 4, I cannot take account of it. It is not a matter
32 of life or death.
33
34 MR. MORRIS: Rather than it being evidence of the fact that it
35 is true, it is a fact that there was a rumour about staff
36 being sacked, is it, all staff being sacked at the Croydon
37 store?
38 A. It was a widely held belief amongst the staff,
39 especially the people who had been there a long time who
40 actually said they knew that to be the case. It was not
41 clear whether it was a -----
42
43 MR. JUSTICE BELL: You just leave it there.
44
45 MR. MORRIS: You do not know.
46
47 THE WITNESS: That is all I know, yes.
48
49 MR. MORRIS: Coming on to the unionisation, can you just explain
50 how this whole situation developed, apart from what it says
51 in your statement?
52 A. Well, there was always people unhappy with the system
53 there and being worked too hard and the conditions and
54 situations came and went, but things came to a particular
55 head during the time I was working there full-time, or just
56 around the time I started working full-time, but everyone
57 began to get extremely frustrated and felt that there was
58 absolutely no hearing for any grievances whatsoever, and
59 that they were being treated extremely badly and being
60 forced to work in really hard conditions.
