Day 102 - 13 Mar 95 - Page 28


     
     1   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  You said that your requirements per person
     2        and per team were less than the average for the industry.
     3        Mr. Morris is asking you what you meant by that.
     4        A.  Well, I meant precisely as you have described, that the
     5        amount of work that we were expecting of our people was
     6        less than the industry average.
     7
     8   MR. MORRIS:  But you have an unusually close proximity to most
     9        of your birds, have you not, in terms of transport
    10        distances?
    11        A.  Yes, I think generally our distances are shorter.
    12
    13   Q.   So that would affect that percentage, would it not?
    14        A.  It might do, yes.
    15
    16   Q.   Your specifications or your job analyses for the catchers
    17        (which Mr. Rampton referred to you) when you said in your
    18        statement:  "It relates to the welfare of both the birds
    19        and of our staff", are these the job descriptions for your
    20        own catchers?
    21        A.  They are job descriptions laid out for our own catchers
    22        but they apply equally to contract catchers.
    23
    24   MS. STEEL:  When you have been to see catching, how long have
    25        you stayed there?
    26        A.  I have stayed there any time up to an hour.
    27
    28   Q.   The staff, would they have known you were there?
    29        A.  The staff would know.
    30
    31   Q.   The catchers?
    32        A.  Yes, they would know that I was there and they would
    33        know who I was.
    34
    35   Q.   So that might affect the way that they work?
    36        A.  Yes, of course it might.
    37
    38   Q.   Is it fair to say that, on average, there would be a lorry
    39        every 45 minutes coming along to be filled up?
    40        A.  Yes, I think that would be fair, yes.
    41
    42   Q.   Does the figure of 14 chickens a minute per person sound
    43        something that you have heard before?
    44        A.  That is not a figure I am familiar with.
    45
    46   Q.   Is it correct that sometimes catchers can work up to 18
    47        hours in a day?
    48        A.  I would be very surprised if that was the case.  They
    49        are allowed to do a certain amount of over-time but the
    50        eight hour day is the norm. 
    51 
    52   Q.   The eight hour day is the length of any one team's shift? 
    53        A.  Yes.
    54
    55   Q.   Do you actually know how many hours in total that catching
    56        is done for in a day?
    57        A.  Catching, in total, will usually start in the early
    58        afternoon and continue right through the night.  So, it
    59        probably goes on for up to 18 hours.
    60

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