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

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