Day 175 - 18 Oct 95 - Page 35
1 the lowest staff shift and make the most money for the
2 Company. Can you just explain how that was done?
3 A. One of the ways it was done was, sometimes, when
4 managers did the scheduling, they would actually talk to
5 the staff and say, "You are going to be on my shift. We
6 are going to go for a really good shift" -- because they
7 tried to involve some of the staff in this idea of
8 competitiveness and seeing themselves as part of the team.
9 But more blatant ways of doing it would be if a shift
10 proved to not be very busy, they would try to get someone
11 to go home, because they felt they were paying people to
12 stand round. But if no one really wanted to go home, then
13 somebody would be sent home for any reason, really, that
14 the Manager thought he could get away with, like they had a
15 creased uniform or they had been cheeky or they took a
16 drink when they were not supposed to, or did not ask first;
17 whereas, if it had been really busy, you could have gone in
18 unshaven or in a crumpled uniform, and they would have just
19 got you straight to your work station and got you to work;
20 they would not have seen the creases, because they needed
21 you to make money for them.
22
23 The managers would boast about how much they got on a shift
24 and what the man hours were, as well. They would show off
25 and say how well they have done with how few staff.
26
27 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Pause there. Yes
28
29 MR. MORRIS: It may be obvious, but if people were sent home or
30 they volunteered to go home, would they be paid?
31 A. Never, no. They would have to clock off. But of
32 course it worked the other way as well, whereas if the
33 store was busy and they felt they needed more staff, they
34 would set the ridiculously low levels too low; they would
35 ask people to work double shifts or they would ring people
36 up to come in who had days off, whatever; and they would
37 also -- sometimes people would be intimidated into staying
38 on when they did not really want to. It might be mentioned
39 that they had their review coming up or they had done so
40 well recently, "Do not ruin it now", that sort of thing.
41 I worked on one shift where it was so intense and so busy,
42 and it kept on and on and on, and it was an unusually busy
43 shift.
44
45 Q. Sorry, you are talking about one day or over a period of
46 time?
47 A. On a particular occasion.
48
49 Q. A particular occasion?
50 A. And the staff had got to the point when they just had
51 enough; they did not feel they could work any more; they
52 wanted a break or they wanted the doors to be shut so that
53 the amount of customers could be limited. The Manager felt
54 under extreme pressure and offered everyone extra money if
55 they carried on working, and it seems -- I believe he
56 genuinely meant to honour his suggestion, so people kept
57 going. Eventually, this period came to an end, and then
58 the Manager, he was a shift Manager, he was reprimanded by
59 the Store Manager who said there was no way that was going
60 to take place. So, the reward never came about. He had to
