Day 130 - 26 May 95 - Page 64
1 do at any time?
2 A. I am intrigued as to what you think is in it for us in
3 terms of under-staffing.
4
5 Q. What is in it for you is greater profit, is not?
6 A. If we under-staff we are not going to be able to serve
7 our customers as well as we would like. If we do not serve
8 them as well as the Company would like, then they do not
9 come back. Really, it is in our interests to make sure we
10 have the appropriate number of employees so that customers
11 can be looked after properly. It is of no interest to us
12 at all in under-staffing.
13
14 Q. It is in your interests to make your workers work as fast
15 as possible so that you continue making large amounts of
16 profit?
17 A. Rubbish! It in our interests to make sure that our
18 workers are happy, that they work at the appropriate rate,
19 yes, that their business is run efficiently, hat our
20 customers are happy and they keep coming back; what is
21 more, that our employees are happy. Nobody wants employees
22 to be either unhappy at work because they do not work
23 effectively or to leave on a frequent basis. We certainly
24 want our customers to be happy and keep coming back.
25
26 Q. Have you issued any memos or put any reports you have ever
27 written about the concern of the Company's focus on
28 employment of young people? I think it is something like
29 75 per cent under 21 in terms of the effect that might have
30 on safety matters, being not very experienced people?
31 A. That is partly why we put them through such a
32 comprehensive training programme. Is there anything
33 specifically you are thinking of there, a particular risk
34 they would be at because they are 16 to 21?
35
36 Q. They are young and inexperienced?
37 A. So that is why we train them.
38
39 Q. So you train them because you recognise that because they
40 are young and inexperienced, working in a potentially
41 hazardous environment, they would need additional training
42 to do some other job which did not have the same hazard?
43 A. No, I do not agree at all with what you said. We train
44 them because we recognise that for a lot of them it is
45 their very first job. We believe our training system is
46 designed to take, well, any 16 year old or 18 year old and
47 train them up to do a job responsibly and well and in a way
48 that fulfills them.
49
50 Q. So you have no concerns on the predominance of young people
51 working in a hazardous kitchen environment?
52 A. I would not say that -----
53
54 Q. You feel that could not be dealt with by additional
55 training?
56 A. I would not say the kitchen environment is hazardous.
57 Yes, it has its hazards, as we have discussed, but it is
58 not inherently dangerous, as you seem to be inferring.
59 They are trained to do their job. The dangers are pointed
60 out to them. They are told how they can keep themselves
