Day 150 - 07 Jul 95 - Page 30


     
     1        incredibly bad message to the customers in terms of us as a
     2        business to be presented with in terms of appearance a
     3        dirty uniform, an unshaven individual or whatever those
     4        sort of poor appearance characteristics are.
     5
     6        They are not going to be impressed by the restaurant, and
     7        certainly the work colleagues are not going to be impressed
     8        by me having double standards, or my managers having double
     9        standards, in terms of who they allow or do not allow to
    10        work on the shift.
    11
    12   Q.   Can I ask you about double shifts, back-to-back shifts?
    13        A.  Right.
    14
    15   Q.   Do you understand?
    16        A.  Yes.
    17
    18   Q.   What do you understand by that?
    19        A.  Basically, someone working through day shift and then
    20        continuing to work on to the night shift.
    21
    22   Q.   Is that a practice which is, in your experience, ever
    23        compulsory?
    24        A.  It is never compulsory.
    25
    26   Q.   What is your opinion of people working double shifts -- is
    27        it a good thing or a bad thing?
    28        A.  Generally, people who would ask me about that, as a
    29        Restaurant Manager, tended to be some of the students would
    30        ask.
    31
    32   Q.   They would actually ask, would they?
    33        A.  They would ask, absolutely.  They would say:  "I need
    34        to pay off an overdraft or have a loan to pay.  I need the
    35        money.  I would like to work a double shift.  I would like
    36        to work as many hours as possible".  My reply to them is
    37        (and always has been) that is fine as an idea but, in
    38        practice, it never works out because probably midway
    39        through that second shift they become too tired, and then
    40        it is not only inefficient but it is too sloppy in terms of
    41        service and presentation again, and the necessity should
    42        not be there because I have my scheduling right.
    43
    44   Q.   I have asked you about the scheduling of hours.  I have
    45        asked you about the question of whether people are forced
    46        to do hours they have not signed up to doing.  I have asked
    47        about punishments, supposed punishments, for not
    48        complying.  I have asked you about the pretext of poor
    49        appearance.  I have asked you about double shifts.  All the
    50        things you have said, do they apply to your knowledge to 
    51        the situation at Colchester back in the mid-1980s? 
    52        A.  They did not. 
    53
    54   Q.   Again, I have to ask it, how do you know that what you are
    55        saying is true?
    56        A.  I was in that restaurant for two or three days a week
    57        working in the restaurant, not sat upstairs in the office;
    58        I would know if those sorts of practices had taken place.
    59
    60   Q.   Can we now go on to all night closers?

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