Day 179 - 30 Oct 95 - Page 07


     
     1        Section 5:  "On two occasions at the Colchester store, the
     2        drains were blocked due to shortening (cooking fat similar
     3        to lard) being poured down the sinks where no waste
     4        containers were available.
     5
     6        "The result was that sewage would rise through the drains
     7        in the kitchen area to a depth in excess of two inches.
     8        The Store Manager would not close the store because he
     9        would be reprimanded by his superiors for a high labour
    10        rate.  The sewage was just mopped out of the customers'
    11        view for perhaps two hours while Dynorod unblocked the
    12        drains."
    13
    14        Is that all correct and true?
    15        A.  Yes, it is.
    16
    17   Q.   Section 6:  "In my entire time with McDonald's, I did not
    18        receive any overtime payments, neither did I ever witness
    19        them being paid to anyone else.  If any hourly paid worker
    20        asked about overtime pay, he or she was told by the
    21        management that 'you do not have to pay overtime pay by law
    22        any more'.  This was accepted as the truth."
    23
    24        Section 7:  "Burns were commonplace at McDonald's, and
    25        occasionally they were serious enough to warrant hospital
    26        attention.  An example is as follows:
    27
    28        "Vicky Golding was a part-time staff member whilst studying
    29        at the Colchester Institute.  She was working on a grill
    30        during a busy lunch time period and someone was mopping the
    31        floor by her feet.  This caused her to slip forwards
    32        towards the grill, both forearms landing firmly on the
    33        grill's 350c metal grill surface.
    34
    35        "She was taken to hospital in a taxi and treated for burns
    36        on both forearms roughly 7 inches by 2 inches.
    37
    38        "Vicky was due to go on a foreign holiday in the next few
    39        days and was told by the hospital that she should stay out
    40        of the sun.  She discussed some sort of compensation with
    41        the Store Manager, Ray Coton, but was persuaded against
    42        this by the payment of some form of bonus as'hush money'."
    43
    44        Section 8:  "The period of time spent cleaning up after the
    45        store had closed was called a close.  If you were scheduled
    46        for a close, you would expect this to take around 1.5
    47        hours.  If the store had a visit from anyone above Area
    48        Supervisor level, there was what was called an all night
    49        close.  Without any notice, anyone who was scheduled for a
    50        close would have to work all night.  There was no choice in 
    51        the matter, even if you were on a 12 midday to close shift, 
    52        which meant you could do a shift of 18 hours and then be 
    53        expected back at work five hours later.
    54
    55        "This was obviously inconvenient to the majority of staff,
    56        but if you complained you would be threatened with a cut in
    57        hours or disciplinary action."
    58
    59        Is that all true and correct?
    60        A.  Yes, it is.

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