Day 134 - 13 Jun 95 - Page 57
1 were suggesting that when the premium rate was frozen or
2 limited in that, for instance, it increased just 10p over
3 the period between 682 and 688 ---
4 A. Yes.
5
6 Q. -- you suggested that the rate, the evening rate, was
7 increased more than it would have otherwise been, as
8 I understood you to say?
9 A. Yes.
10
11 Q. Ms. Steel is pointing out that the evening rate increased
12 30p an hour, basic rate, which is no more than the daily
13 rate increased, and she is suggesting that contradicts what
14 you said. What you are invited to do is say whether you
15 accept or not it contradicted?
16 A. Right. I will need to look at the figures again
17 because I thought it was making the point that I had made,
18 but from -- what I said was, from recollection, and what
19 I will need to do is show, to demonstrate what I mean by
20 that, if I can have a moment? Yes, I accept that I cannot
21 make the connection that I am trying to make from these
22 figures so ......
23
24 Q. No, it occurs to me that those figures are not necessarily
25 inconsistent because, for instance, for all I know but for
26 the policy you have said, if it existed, the evening rate
27 would have only been increased 20p that year but has been
28 increased 30p, and one can look at the other figures and
29 see that they vary rather.
30
31 For instance, the Floor Managers, Training Co-ordinators
32 increase or their equivalent increase 35 in the daily rate,
33 and it is right they increase 35 for evenings as well, but
34 Lobby Hostesses in the day increase 35 minimum and in the
35 evening increase 40 minimum. So there is not necessarily
36 any consistency about it.
37
38 What is your foundation, let me put it another way, for
39 saying that the evening rate was increased more than it
40 would have been as the premium rate increase was slowed
41 down or disappeared altogether?
42 A. It is based on my recollection before having looked at
43 the documents from here, and from something I think
44 I remember seeing not so long ago on another document, but
45 because I cannot make the same comparison, I cannot
46 actually contradict the point in the way that I would
47 want. So, maybe when I look at them again at a different
48 point I will know, but I cannot draw that out at the
49 moment.
50
51 MS. STEEL: I put it to you that both the maximum amounts that
52 crew can go up to, even if they do really well on
53 performance reviews, and the doing away with the premium
54 rate are both just measures for the Company to put a cap on
55 crew earnings so that the Company can increase its profits?
56 A. Things like that are never done simply to increase
57 profits because if you take a short-term approach, that
58 then causes you a problem in a different area. Then you
59 will find your results will drop, and if you find that you
60 are not pleasing customers, they do not come back and your
