Day 121 - 04 May 95 - Page 11
1 seen the overtime returns. You have had an opportunity to
2 analyse them. If one person a fortnight in an average
3 store is doing more than 78 hours in a fortnight, it is
4 most unlikely that anyone is working 50 hours a week and
5 most unlikely that it is common place. If it happened it
6 would be extremely rare, if it ever happened.
7
8 Q. You would consider that quite long hours?
9 A. I would.
10
11 Q. If you turn to page 10, just before half way down that
12 paragraph on page 10, it refers to Simon Gibney who was, I
13 think, Assistant Manager of the store, his statement, who
14 is a witness for us, saying that it is exaggerating about
15 hours -- Mark Davis says in the middle of the sentence:
16 "It is more realistic to state that crew members could be
17 working approximately 50 hours a week during the school
18 holidays, rather than 60 or 70 hours as suggested by Simon;
19 perhaps 30 to 40 hours a week during other times",
20 presumably, not school holidays "rather than 25 hours". If
21 people are working 50 hours a week, what does that say
22 about the scheduling system at a particular store?
23 A. It says that they are under-crewed, but if you analyse
24 those papers we sent you on the analysis of hours worked,
25 you will find that the number working over 96 is
26 minuscule. Now, I cannot answer for what Mark Davis has
27 said, but I am talking about what the figures dictate for
28 the Company as a whole.
29
30 Q. People might not want to work long hours; if a store was
31 under-staffed, they may be under pressure to work long
32 hours?
33 A. I did not say it was under-staffed. I said that would
34 be what that would indicate. I dare say there are people
35 who do want to work 50 hours a week -- I used to
36 regularly.
37
38 MR. JUSTICE BELL: It is going to vary from person to
39 person ---
40 A. Yes, of course.
41
42 Q. -- some people would find it tough; some people would be
43 happy to have the opportunity to work more hours and get
44 more money?
45 A. And our policy is, my Lord, that we discourage managers
46 allowing people to work more than the 78 hours per
47 fortnightly period.
48
49 Q. Yes.
50
51 MR. MORRIS: I asked you about rumours about the Company's
52 attitude to trade unions, do you remember, and particularly
53 about a store being closed when staff joined the trade
54 union, and you said you had never heard of that, you never
55 heard of that rumour?
56 A. No.
57
58 Q. Have you heard any other rumours about Company policy to
59 trade unions?
60 A. No, I have said, the only occasions on which I have
