Day 182 - 02 Nov 95 - Page 45
1 slow to get something mended?
2 A. Yes.
3
4 Q. It is no different from the ventilation system which you
5 have been talking about, is it?
6 A. No, I would say there is a difference. The thing about
7 the ventilation system was that it was wholly inadequate
8 for the restaurant; it was not adequate, it did not provide
9 the air exchange that was needed to provide good working
10 conditions in the restaurant and in the kitchen; and it was
11 not a matter of routine maintenance, it was a matter of
12 replacing the whole system.
13
14 Q. What do you say has that got, in any real sense, to do with
15 the presence of a union in that particular restaurant?
16 A. Not in any other matter, that we had complained about
17 the situation for as long as I have worked there and
18 nothing had been done until the union put their hands on
19 it.
20
21 Q. Finally, I think, this -- and this is as far as I can go at
22 the moment, my Lord, I think -- would you agree with me
23 that for many people, perhaps most people, in McDonald's
24 before this agreement, the effect of the
25 performance-related pay increases was to, in practical
26 terms -- do you understand the word obviate?
27 A. No.
28
29 Q. Make unnecessary -- make unnecessary the need to pay any
30 overtime?
31 A. Could you state that question again? I am not quite
32 sure I understand what you are after.
33
34 Q. I think you are telling us that one of the benefits, as you
35 see it, of the union agreement is that people now get
36 guaranteed overtime. What I am suggesting to you is that,
37 in practical terms, that has not made any difference to
38 most of the employees, because they were getting as much or
39 more under the old system?
40 A. That is wrong, because we still receive
41 performance-related pay. I, myself, I have extra pay for
42 being Floor Manager. I do not know exactly what the rates
43 are for everybody. But if McDonald's has chosen to abandon
44 their system of performance-related pay because they now
45 have to pay overtime, I think that is sad, because I think
46 they can co-operate quite well. But I also think that it
47 is necessary to alleviate and compensate for those who have
48 to work during the night, during the weekends and in the
49 evening who work at -- well, what am I trying to say -----
50
51 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Yes, I am not sure you are both -----
52
53 MR. RAMPTON: There is a slight misunderstanding but, my
54 Lord -----
55
56 MR. JUSTICE BELL: It is not suggested, is it, as I understand
57 it, that McDonald's have abandoned performance
58 related -----
59
60 MR. RAMPTON: No, not at all.
