Day 152 - 11 Jul 95 - Page 54
1 I think the figure of 15 per cent as proposed by the
2 Defendants. What comment do you have about that?
3 A. The Company never stipulated an exact labour per cent
4 to keep in line with. It is very much left to the local
5 Manager in conjunction with the Supervisor to schedule to
6 need rather than any fixed labour per cent.
7
8 So, if that need meant that on one particular week it was
9 16 per cent and that was the end figure -- it was not like
10 somebody came along and said: "You have got to run your
11 labour at 16 per cent or 15 per cent or 14 per cent". It
12 was done according to what management and crew need you had
13 to take a particular amount of business.
14
15 For instance, if you needed two fry stations on, then you
16 would put one person on each fry station. That would not
17 necessarily equate to any fixed labour per cent.
18
19 Q. Perhaps I can ask it this way: What is the key to labour
20 costs? Is it saving money or is it providing a service
21 which will make a profit?
22 A. Providing a service that will make a profit at the end
23 of the day, due to pleasing the customers, therefore, they
24 will come back in the long term.
25
26 Q. In your experience, what would be the consequence, do you
27 think, if you were chronically under-staffed so that your
28 crew were bad tempered, tired and grumpy?
29 A. The customers would not come back longer term.
30
31 Q. Have you in all your experience in McDonald's ever come
32 across a Manager or a Supervisor who was aiming rather at
33 saving money than at providing the right number of crew for
34 the right number of customers?
35 A. No.
36
37 Q. Never?
38 A. Never.
39
40 Q. Your restaurant at Colchester was Restaurant of the Year,
41 I think, in 1987, was it not?
42 A. That is correct, yes.
43
44 Q. What were the criteria which were used to judge that award,
45 do you know?
46 A. It was the whole gamut of ways in which the store could
47 be judged, firstly, sales increases, transcount increases,
48 level of operation in the store, quality, service and
49 cleanliness grades, resorts(?) are fulfilled, profit
50 results, people development -- all those things.
51
52 Q. You left, I think, as Manager in August 1987?
53 A. I believe so, yes.
54
55 Q. What was the date of the actual award, do you know?
56 A. The award, I think, was given out, would have been
57 given out, at the conference around March/April time of the
58 following year.
59
60 Q. In 1988?
